Save the Date
A Rustic Italian Date Spot in the West Village

We’ve polled experts. Lunched with fortune-tellers. Shaken several hundred magic eight balls.

And every one of them said the same thing.

2011: the year of the rustic Italian restaurant date spot.

Of course, we’d never go out on a limb that big without some indisputable evidence.

So allow us to present Spasso, a cozy West Village eatery from the guys behind Choptank, complete with an expansive wine list and the overwhelming scent of house-cured meat, opening tonight.

With its corner real estate, floor-to-ceiling windows and wafting aroma of braised duck leg, the gravitational pull of Spasso will be strong. Don’t fight it.

Inside, you’ll find all the required trappings of a proper dinner for two. A table lit with candles. A menu full of homemade pastas. And a marble-topped bar stocked with the city’s most formidable sparkling wine collection. Yes, that’s a thing.

And when you’re ready to sit, you’ll want to ignore your most basic date instincts. Forget that seductive banquette. Forgo the window table. Instead, take a seat with a bunch of strangers in the kitchen.

There, at a long reclaimed-barn-wood bar, you’ll sit alongside the chef (a prized White/Batali disciple): passing silent judgment on his Trout Saltimbocca, debating the cultural significance of pepperoni and sampling dishes as they’re prepared.

Just don’t double dip in the pork ragu.