Aita Plans To Bring Italian Flair To Second Outpost This Summer

Chef Silvia Barban (left) with co-owner Guilia Pelliccioni (right).

Aita is ever-evolving, doling out Italian-inspired seasonal fare at the corner of Greene Avenue and Waverly Avenue. Besides recently bringing on chef Silvia Barban, an enthusiastic young cuisinier with a background in French-Italian cooking, the restaurant is also planning to open another location at Myrtle Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue in July.

“The concept is a little different. It’s going to be a pasta shop,” co-owner Guilia Pellicionni said of the new outpost.

Pellicionni, who comes from Italy, draws on her upbringing to guide the menu at Aita. The restaurant loves to experiment, and come up with new dishes for customers.

“There’s one thing we’ve kept since we’ve kept since we opened, which is the oxtail ravioli. We opened with that dish. It’s a memory. It’s something that you don’t see around so often,” said Pelliccioni.

And now that Barban has joined, Pelliccioni expects that tradition of experimentation to continue.

“Our new partner is Silvia and she’s younger and she comes from more of a French-Italian cuisine and she’s super passionate and wants to try things. She kept what we had and took it to another level,” gushed Pelliccioni with effusive praise.

That praise is well-deserved, as this visit proved. The moderately-priced Italian fare is split between a lunch menu and a dinner menu and the Focus sampled from both.

Braised beef hash with seasonal vegetables and a poached egg, $13.

The braised beef hash hails from the brunch menu and is a spectacularly rich, flavorful, and filling dish. The poached egg contributes an additional smoothness that elevates the dish even further.

“Polipo”. Octopus, smoked potato, cannelli beans, red onion, paprika, kalamata olives, $15.

The polipo comes from the dinner menu and tastes of the sea. It’s savory, smoky, and the interplay of the texture of the beans with the onions and the octopus has a sinuous grace.

The cocktails are carried off as gracefully as the rest of the menu. In particular, the Torre Rosa (Brooklyn Gin, rhubarb-ginger, and Lemon ($10) is something you could easily find yourself carried away with. However, on this innovative menu, it’s the utterly classic Bloody Mary ($11) that stood tallest.

Aita’s menu changes with the season, so head over to try these dishes. In the meantime, we’ll await the new Fort Greene location with baited breath.

Aita, 132 Greene Avenue. Monday, 5pm-10:30pm, Tuesday-Thursday, 11:30am-10:30pm, Friday 11:30am-11pm, Saturday, 11am-11pm, Sunday 11:00am-10:15pm.