On Monday, duo Christian Ramos (Per Se) and Reed Adelson (Loconda Verde) opened Virginia's, a new East Village eatery named for the pair's mothers, who both happen to share the same first name. Together with sous chef Lauren Calhoun—the trio were all vets of Charlie Trotter's eponymous Chicago restaurant—they're offering a small, market-driven menu inside a handsomely-decorated space on 11th Street. If vaulted ceilings, leather banquettes and suckling pig are your thing, step right this way.
The meat-heavy menu boasts five small and five large plates, the going nomenclature for appetizers and entrees these days. On the former, Seppia a la Plancha ($14), a cuttlefish dish with asparagus and green garlic and Crispy Sweetbreads ($15) with apricot, pea leaves and charred lemon. On the latter, a vegetarian Gnocchi ($18) with morel mushroosm, fava beans and parmesan and a Roasted Duck Breast ($20) with fermented soy bean, breakfast radish and plum. The Stuffed Suckling Pig ($24) doesn't arrive apple in mouth, but as cubes of tender flesh topped with crunchy skin.
On the dessert menu, the Chocolate Beet Cake ($9) sounds pretty wild and a good way to make something sweet sound more healthful. The rich cake comes with a vibrant smear of beet cream, shavings of Oazaca chocolate and a dusting of crushed amaretti cookies. Wine and apertif-based cocktails are all a reasonable $9, including the Sunny Girl, made with two types of vermouth and fragrant additions of lavender, mint and lime.
647 E 11th Street, 212-658-0152; website
