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Five years after opening on Mulberry Street, Torrisi Italian Specialties—the first of the Carbone owners' blockbuster hits (see Dirty French, ZZ's Clam Bar)—has officially closed. An homage to Italian-American cooking, Rich Torrisi, Mario Carbone and Jeff Zalaznick's red-sauced original ran as a sandwich shop by day and prix fixe restaurant by night, finally shuttering after dinner service on New Year's Eve.
But Major Food Group fans shouldn't fret: The small space will be a retooled into an intimate, 15-seat fine-dining restaurant under an undisclosed new name. Plus, Torrisi will remain at the kitchen's helm to churn out both tasting and à la carte menus with—yep, you guessed it—Italian inflections. It's unclear how long this makeover will take, especially as the team's hands are currently full with a second outpost of Parm on the Upper West Side and the forthcoming Santina, the crew's largest project that's slated to serve Italian coastal cuisine at the High Line.