Photo: Parla/Michael Jacobs
From the owners of beloved Manhattan staple The Smith comes a new Columbus Avenue restaurant combining cocktails and pizza.
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Parla officially opened Wednesday at 320 Columbus Avenue (corner of 75th Street) in the space that formerly housed Saffron. The restaurant is owned by Corner Table Restaurants, which owns and operates The Smith’s six locations including four throughout Manhattan and one in both Chicago and Washington D.C.
The food program created by executive chef Brian Ellis of The Smith is founded on round and square pizza pies, which aim to be distinctly thin and crispy (round) and light and fluffy with a crisp base (square). Ellis spent his childhood working and learning in pizza kitchens and later helped launch The Smith’s original location in the East Village.
Round pie options include the Tomato Pie ($19), NY classic ($29), and The Happy Clam ($27), which features little neck clams, garlic, lemon, parsley, oregano and parmesan.
Among the square pizza highlights are the Upside Down ($21), Hot Hunny ($27) and There’s a Leek ($26), a creatively named pie combining leek and gruyere fondue, bacon and brussel sprouts.
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All Parla’s pizzas are made with stone milled flour from Italy, tomatoes from New Jersey and mozzarella from New York.
Photo: Parla/Michael Jacobs
Photo: Parla/Michael Jacobs
For starters, Parla offers Catchy O’s (spaghetti cacio e pepe arancini) and Pepperoni Meatballs among other inspired small plates. Parla’s menu also features veggie selections including broccolini ($13) and the Parla Chopped salad ($25) with calamari, kale, black olives, chickpeas and more. The menu is completed by four pasta options with Goat Cheese Gnocchi ($25) and Wild Mushroom Mafaldine ($23) among them.
The bar menu from Mike di Tota (also of The Smith) includes a Hot Honey Margarita and new takes on classics like the Spritz, Aperitivi and Whiskey Sour.
Photo: Parla/Michael Jacobs
The 30-seat space with a 14-seat bar was designed by Nemaworkshop, a design group that counts La Pecora Bianca and Bond Street (in addition to The Smith locations) among its projects. Parla is currently open for dinner and will soon expand to an all-day menu including baked goods at breakfast and lunch.
For more information, visit Parla’s website or Instagram.
I’m an old school NY pizza snob and that pizza looks good.
I agree – it looks fabulous but…..(buzzkill warning)…..at $29 for a NY Classic pie, we’re looking at $36-$38 with tax and reasonable tip (something we all pay so we need to include them). Something’s gotta give at some point.
Don’t go here – the smith was created by one of the Sackler/oxycontin heirs (Mortimer’s grandson Jeffrey Lefcourt to be exact) – boycott this place!!!
You can not go. I’m going.
That’s a ridiculous reason not to go to a restaurant. If someone’s grandparents did something you don’t like, will you boycott everything thing these descendants do? Do you check the lineage of every establishment you enter? What possible good are you achieving through this ham-fisted solo boycott?
That pizza doesn’t look very good. My stomach ached, just viewing the pictures.