Jarro XIV (CLOSED)

First thing’s first: Who the hell is Jarro XIV? Italian folklore says it’s bad luck to have 13 guests at a table—the Last Supper attendees could have surely attested—so a lucky 14th is routinely pulled in. In the 19th century, Florentine writer-slash-gourmand Giulio “Jarro” Piccini was frequently that kismet-turning 14th. And Rome native Simon Clementi hopes to invoke the lad's luck with this Cobble Hill small-plates restaurant. Clementi’s tapped Rodrigo Nogueira (Colicchio & Sons) to dispatch cross-cultural tapas that nod to Piccini’s cookbooks: truffle salami; duck rillettes dotted with date mustard; and salmon belly sprinkled with blood-orange zest. Plush velvet lounge seating and Victorian high-backed chairs are dispersed for dining, vintage touches that evoke Piccini’s era. At the wooden 13-seat bar, Italian mixologist Eddie Fontana infuses vodkas with rosemary or jalapeño, crafts barrel-aged cocktails and finishes tipples with spoonfuls of fig jelly.