GRASSO may have opened with minimal fanfare but there is basically nothing quiet about it. Magicked into the vast, new-built shell of a Dean Street Wagamama, it is an imitation red sauce joint that hits with all the subtlety of a big pizza pie. Almost 200 covers sprawl across two floors of hectically mismatched retro art. "Disco toilets" throb with flashing lights and pummelling floor-fillers.
There is the domed bulk of an oven tended by thick-armed pizzaioli, a long, bustling bar and, generally, the boisterous, high-volume atmosphere of a steroidal modern trattoria. And then, below the groovy Seventies font of the logo, there is the key phrase "Italian-American Restaurant" - a vital indicator that (like the Dover, Alley Cats Pizza, Carlotta and more) here is a venture tapping into a trend that is suddenly hotter than an arrabbiata made for an enemy.
Which is all to say that Grasso launched just before Christmas by the Sicilian-heritage McCaffrey family seemingly has the whole package of personable warmth, palpable hype and zeitgeist-grabbing, nostalgic appeal.
Esta historia es de la edición February 07, 2024 de Evening Standard.
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