Restaurant: Torrisi Italian Specialties

Torrisi Italian Specialties
250 Mulberry St. nr. Prince St.
Subway: 6 at Spring St.; B, D, F, V at Broadway-Lafayette
Tue-Sun, 11am-4pm and 6pm-11pm; Mon, closed

Torrisi is very good to know about if you're in Soho, but then it's good to know about anyway: it's terrific. The premise is: old-school Italian deli. The twist is: everything is, in fact, locally sourced. The spot is as casual and sepia-toned as one would imagine from that description, and on the friendly side of cool. By day, it's a sandwich shop serving up chicken parm heroes, eggplant parm plates, and a garlicky vegetables. At night, it becomes a proper restaurant and a pricey one to boot. You've got to do prix-fixe (I'm not telling you, they are: it's the only option) so if you're not feeling hungry or spendy, do elsewhere. If you do decide to visit, however, you'll have fresh, luscious, local food well-prepared and a darling plate of house-made "rainbow cookies" and other Italian bakery standards, reinvented. By candlelight, of course. By the by, the tables aren't made for more than four, max, so take this into account. NB: M has accused me of favoring it just because their website is "piginahat.com" Not true!