The Italian Job

You’re not really one with flowers, but you’ve got to admit they brighten up the drab post-Winter landscape.

While it’s still early for a full spring bloom, Midtown’s first bud, Fabio Piccolo Fiore (Italian for “Fabio’s little flower”), has just blossomed on East 44th Street.

True, New York needs another Italian restaurant like Lost needs another season, but Chef Fabio Hakill’s putting the customer in charge at his new Midtown Italian. Formerly of Parkside Restaurant in Corona, the Roman born chef is no stranger to high end, classic Italian cuisine.

He’s put out a menu with such dishes as fritto misto, tomato and mozzarella-topped pesto gnocchi, and veal tenderloin with champignon and port sauce, but said menu is merely a guide: The kitchen will gladly make you anything you want, and encourages you to do so.

Want some truffle risotto? No problem. Lobster Fra Diavolo? Fuggedabout it. They’ll even go so far as to give you small tastes of a dish before you commit. The same goes for dessert and cocktails.

The room looks like the Uffizi incarnated with wall-sized replicas of Renaissance portraits, and seeing that you’ve authored your own meal, you can literally have your art and eat it, too.


Fabio Piccolo Fiore
230 East 44th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues)
Tel: (212) 922-0581