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The next great New York restaurant power move may be happening inside one of the city’s most recognizable buildings.
Via Carota chefs Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, the duo behind cult-favorite spots including I Sodi, Buvette, Bar Pisellino and The Commerce Inn, are officially heading uptown-ish. The James Beard Award-winning restaurateurs are opening a new outpost of Bar Pisellino inside the Flatiron building, which is currently undergoing a massive restoration and residential conversion.
A representative for the Flatiron Building told Time Out that construction is expected to begin this summer, with the café and bar slated to open in 2027.
For longtime fans of the pair’s West Village empire, this is a pretty major development. Sodi and Williams have largely kept their restaurants clustered downtown, building a hospitality universe centered around pasta, tiny espresso cups and impossible reservations. But lately, the duo has been expanding their reach beyond the neighborhood: last year, the chefs were also tapped to overhaul the restaurant program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Flatiron project marks another major step outside their longtime downtown orbit.
There’s also a nice bit of historical symmetry here. When the Flatiron Building first opened in 1902, the ground floor housed the Flatiron Restaurant, a large, all-day dining destination that helped turn the building into more than just an office tower. Later, the space became Taverne Louis, a French restaurant and nightlife spot known for live music and jazz performances.
Now, more than a century later, food and nightlife are returning to the landmark once again. “The Flatiron Building’s legacy is such an iconic part of New York and we are thrilled to be part of it,” Sodi and Williams said in a statement. “We cannot wait to bring that spirit to Bar Pisellino.”
For a city that treats restaurant openings like sporting events, this one already feels destined to become a reservation bloodbath.