East Village Italian Empire Expands

Having already established a wildly successful Roman restaurant in Gnocco and an equally successful Italian wine bar in Perbacco, Modena native Gian Luca Giovanetti now wants to take on the East Village breakfast business. His Caffè Emilia, announced in this week’s Openings, is a narrow space (85 feet long and 9-and-a-half feet wide) filled with the kind of casual Emilia-Romagnan foods that Giovanetti thinks the neighborhood needs. The highlight of the menu is tramezzini, a kind of Italian club sandwich. “I never find it in New York,” he says. “It’s a sandwich with three layers of white bread, and we stuff it with original ingredients: caramelized onion with balsamic vinegar, tuna, shrimp, ham, artichokes, Fontina cheese.” The place will open at 8 a.m. and serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner — that last one becoming more important once Giovanetti gets his grill going. Restaurant Openings: Hill Country, Caffè Emilia, and Park Avenue Summer [NYM] Caffè Emilia menu

Posted 06/07/07 in Grub Street : Openings

Tags: caffe emilia, east village, gian luca giovanetti, gnocco, italian, openings, perbacco