An Acclaimed Duo Is Returning to Greenwich Village With a New Italian Restaurant

A seasoned restaurateur duo will make its way back to NYC with the opening of a new Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. Michael and Caitlin Toscano are set to open Toscano at 24 Minetta Lane — the former home of Perla’s first location, where Michael was an opening and executive chef to much acclaim.

The new restaurant will serve regional Italian cuisine and be open for lunch and dinner, with a menu featuring seafood, pasta, and dishes made in a wood burning oven. There will also be cocktails, wine, and beer.

Toscano built his NYC career at Gabriel Stulman’s Happy Cooking Hospitality, also serving as an executive chef at the group’s other restaurants Montmartre and Jeffrey’s Grocery. Perla opened with a menu helmed by Michael in 2012, and it quickly racked up accolades, including two-star reviews from both the Times’ Pete Wells and New York magazine’s Adam Platt. A year after opening, it landed on the Eater 38, where it remained for at least a year. When it moved locations, however, the momentum stalled, and it didn’t attract the same crowds. It closed in 2017, flipping into Fairfax.

In 2014, Michael left the city for Charleston, where he opened the Italian restaurant Le Farfalle alongside Caitlin in 2016. Caitlin also has significant NYC dining experience, previously working front of house at Craft, Per Se, Del Posto, and Eataly’s Manzo.

In late 2019, the duo will make their way back to the NYC dining scene to the same space where Michael’s career kicked off. This will be their second restaurant owned together, and they will split their time between Charleston and NYC.

Le Farfalle similarly serves regional Italian dishes, and it has been well received in Charleston, garnering positive reviews as well as being highlighted in Charleston travel guides.

Perla ended up moving, and in 2017, Stulman turned it into Fairfax.

Stay tuned for updates.

• Le Farfalle Owners Plan Second Italian Restaurant in NYC [Eater Charleston]