A Chip on the Old Block (May-June 2009)

Ask any New Yorker who that white-haired man is saying hello to everyone on the corner of 6th Avenue and Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village, and they’ll tell you Silvano Marchetto of course, owner of Da Silvano. The New York institution has been around for 30 years, with Silvano himself at the helm. Now, his 29-year-old daughter Leyla has opened a restaurant of her own across the street, called Scuderia.

“We figured if there was an open space across from us, we’d rather be our own competition than go head-to-head against anyone else,” says, Leyla, who is making her first foray into the business even though she grew up at Da Silvano, rollerskating through it after school and meeting its regular celebrity patrons on a regular basis.

Her partners include Alessandro Bandini, the GM of Da Silvano for 10 years, Fabrizio Sotti, a music producer, and executive chef Claudio Cristofoli who has helmed the kitchens at Cipriani Downtown and Cipriani Hong Kong. Cristofoli brings his Venetian roots to the Northern Italian menu, so expect dishes like grilled rabbit with fried artichokes, and mini pizzas with prosciutto, basil and a soft-fried egg. “Of course, I had to have the perfect burger on the menu,” says Leyla. “The entire menu consists of things I always want to eat.”

SCUDERIA 10 DOWNING ST./ BLEECKER, 212.206.9111