Tarlow (in the grey suit) and the entire crew of Borgo, which is scheduled to open in September.
Photo: Jeremy Liebman
Welcome to Grub Street’s Fall 2024 Restaurant Preview. All week, we’re diving into the upcoming openings we’re most excited about.
Twenty-six years ago, Andrew Tarlow, his then-business partner Mark Firth, and a young chef named Caroline Fidanza opened the Diner, the Williamsburg restaurant that changed the Brooklyn dining scene and, some argue, Brooklyn itself. Thousands of Manhattanites ventured to the borough to order its cheeseburger and beet salad. Some stayed and bought lofts. Now there’s a Chanel boutique, a Chase Bank, and a Whole Foods, all within walking distance, so Tarlow has set sail again to explore distant shores, this time to an 836-square-foot eatery that—though it sits on the border of Flatiron, Nomad, and Gramercy—doesn’t feel like it’s in its own neighborhood. “I call it no man’s land,” Tarlow jokes. “We’ve all seen what happened to Williamsburg—nobody’s going to tear down these buildings and build ugly condos here.”
Borgo means “village,” but it is also, says Tarlow, “just a funny word – Village!” This little corner of nowhere, built up but not redeveloped, actually feels like a village. Tarlow liked the neighborhood after dropping his younger son Roman — after whom he named his restaurant Fort Greene — off to school on 23rd Street. Now his oldest son Elijah, who has worked at Marlow & Sons, Roman’s and most recently Mimi, is joining Borgo as one of two sous chefs. “This is his first job that’s exempt from overtime,” Dad says, “but he’s been working in the restaurant industry since he was 10.” (Elijah will hopefully be accompanied by his sister Beatrice, whom Tarlow hopes to lure in as a hostess.) “All of my kids grew up in these restaurants, as part of this whole community of people,” Tarlow says. “I’m excited to have them here.”
The chef at Borgo is Jordan Frosolone, a 48-year-old father of two who has worked for Tom Colicchio and Marco Canora. “Jordan is a great fit,” Tarlow says. “He’s not a young guy anymore, and I’m interested in how we build and mature restaurants.” There’s room for 140 diners, and the menu – old-fashioned and large – features a picture of Librizzi, a hilltop village in Sicily, drawn by Drew Heffron, a longtime Tarlow collaborator. Dishes include Scurdalia, a Sicilian garlic dip made with Italian almonds; ancient-grain spaghetti with Calabrian anchovies and chiles; and pork ribs with fennel pollen. Tarlow’s restaurants have always been in the realm of fine dining, good but not virtuosic, satisfying but familiar, habit-forming rather than overwhelming. “Ideally in an authentic way, without sounding silly,” Tarlow explains, “I want people to feel fulfilled by the experience.”
As we walk through the dining room, still a sea of tarps in a cloud of sawdust, the framework of a “classic” place takes shape. “This is the first job where we’ve officially been general contractors,” he points out, “so we were able to take our time.” He says the restaurant is the beginning of a true new chapter, a time to build something he can pass on, and a return to Manhattan; he met his wife, Kate Huling (in the blue dress in the photo above), when they worked together at the Odeon. It was there that he met Firth.
Everything is designed to be timeless in that hazy, Tarlowian way. The original bar, from the previous owner, I Trulli, has been renovated and expanded; the archways have a graceful, Shaker-style curve. Tarlow & Co. dug out and raised the fireplace that stands between two dining rooms so that it is now at eye level. And the unusually large garden in the back houses a metal sculpture by Gabrielle Shelton, a regular at the diner since day one.
