Five Things to Know About New York’s Borgo

1. Tarlow has been hands-on since the beginning.

In his typical fashion, Tarlow is not only acting as the owner and operator of Borgo, but also the general contractor, builder, and designer. He’s been in the expansive space on East 27th Street nearly every day, taking on tasks like building custom speaker hutches for the walls and directing the build firsthand.

“Effectively everything in this place has been built by us and by hand,” Tarlow says.

The restaurant is sprinkled with thoughtful details, from the outdoor courtyard with strung lights to the indoor working fireplace that connects the two main rooms. And it’s much larger than many of Tarlow’s other restaurants, with room for around 140 guests, including the outdoor area and the bar.

Before it became Borgo, the same space housed I Trulli, another Italian restaurant that was open in the neighborhood for decades. “I was excited by the idea that it had been a restaurant for 25 years. One single owner running a space for [that long] meant a lot to me,” he adds.

2. Your choice: shaken or stirred?

Should the urge to have a drink made tableside strike you, Borgo’s martini cart should fit the bill. It’s custom-built by Gabrielle Shelton, a longtime friend of his, whose sculpture work also resides in the restaurant’s back courtyard.

Lee Campbell, the sommelier who, at one time, oversaw all of Tarlow’s restaurants and now has her own winery in Virginia, curates the wine program, which is rooted in natural wines.

“We’ll definitely have wines from the United States, France, and Italy. I think a little bit from everywhere,” explains Tarlow. “It’ll be a bit more international. Definitely low intervention, for sure.”

3. Expect lots of wood-fired cooking.

The menu revolves around the restaurant’s piece de resistance: a wood-burning oven located in the upstairs kitchen. It’s Italian, as the restaurant name (which means “village”) suggests, with pastas, breads, and seasonal vegetables taking up a majority of the real estate on the menu.

In the kitchen is chef Jordan Frosonlone, who previously acted as the director of culinary operations at Momofuku and was the executive chef at Soho’s Sessanta.

There will be oven-roasted chicken and pork ribs, as well as a beef heart skewer with roasted Thomcord grape agrodolce, plus a take on the traditional Ligurian focaccia di recco they’re calling focaccia borgo.

“It’s not a very leavened bread; it’s very thin,” Tarlow says of the focaccia. “There’s cheese [Robiolina and Fontina] inside and then another layer of dough on top. We put it in the wood oven and cook it very fast, under two minutes.” The bread is also finished with Sicilian oregano and olive oil.

Four or five pastas will also rotate on the menu, and you won’t want to miss the timballo di anelletti, also known as timpano, an elaborate baked pasta immortalized in the Stanley Tucci film classic, “Big Night.” Borgo makes theirs with a beef ragu, bechamel, and fresh anelletti pasta, baking it in their wood-fired oven until the bechamel caramelizes.

4. Family played an important role.

Tarlow’s family has always played a role in his restaurants (Roman’s is named after his son, for example). He first found the space for Borgo while walking Roman to school in the neighborhood.

“I was taking him here in the morning, and I [always] had extra time before I had to get to work, so I’d wander around a little bit. This space became available, and I saw it. Honestly, the first time I walked into it I felt it. I knew right off the bat,” Tarlow recalls. His eldest son, Elijah, will be in the kitchen acting as one of the sous chefs, as well.

It’s a family affair in more ways than biological, however, with many of the staff roles being filled by people whom Tarlow has worked with in the past.

“I have my whole management team who have really been around me since way before Covid. It feels like a culmination of a lot of different people’s hard work and energy,” he adds.

5. It’ll feel familiar, but different, at the same time.

As with all of his restaurants, Tarlow says, Borgo will maintain the through line of service that guests have come to expect at his restaurants, as well as the same level of care that the staff and team will be shown. It’s a culmination of all the experience he’s had since he opened his first restaurant, Diner, in 1998, some 26 years ago.

“I’ve built this for a moment in my life and a moment in time. When I built Diner, I was a 28-year-old. I was building it for myself at the moment,” Tarlow says. “I think that’s the best way I could describe how I think [Borgo] will be a little different from my other [restaurants].”

Borgo will be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5 to 10:30 p.m. beginning on Sept. 27.

Ellie Plass is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn. Follow her on Instagram and X. Follow Resy, too.