Starfish Closes, Lavagna Coming Soon

Image uploaded by dcdan on Flickr

If you’ve taken a stroll up 8th Street recently, you may have noticed that Starfish Café is officially closed. Some new owners recently came in and will be turning the space into Trattoria Lavagna, an Italian restaurant based in New York City.

The folks behind the new restaurant shared with me, “With a clean slate 539 8th Street SE welcomes Lavagna Ristorante Italiano, tentatively opening on July 12th. Lavagna is a city, located in Northern Italy in the province of Genoa, whose hills are renowned for the production slate. Lavagna also means ‘chalkboard’ in Italian. Executive Chef Lance and Owner Stephen Cheung wanted to have a menu that portrayed our idea of what food should be; ‘It should be simple, fresh and changed often just like a chalkboard.’ Lavagna’s chalkboard menu will be focused on easy to recognize Italian cuisine with a focus on fresh pasta made in house daily. Renovation on the main dining room reflects our belief that Italian cuisine is best enjoyed in a family friendly environment. The bar has been relocated and redesigned to the second floor, which also has a lovely dining room.”

I, for one, am excited to have a new Italian option in the neighborhood. While Trattoria Alberto has its fans, I am not really one of them. And truthfully, neither Bistro Italiano nor Toscana Café really do it for me either. I do like Acqua al 2, but am not in love. I guess four years of college right off of Arthur Avenue in the Bronx and a summer in Italy have given me a particular taste when it comes to Italian food. Or maybe there is a nostalgic flavor I am seeking that I will only find by spending a summer evening in a piazza in Orvieto.