This July, Chef marcie Turney and Valerie Safran, the pioneering entrepreneurs whose five restaurants and boutiques on 13th street have helped transform the once-desolate neighborhood into trendy midtown Village, will debut their sixth venture, Barbuzzo, a Medittereanean kitchen and bar. With a wood-burning oven for pizzas and roasting, and decorative elements such as italian marble and reclaimed woods, Barbuzzo will evoke the atmosphere of a medditerean farmhouse. For Turney and Safran, Barbuzzo will be the first of their restaurants to have a liquor license, and joins BYOB's Lolita and Bindi, as well as their gourmet prepared food market, Grocery, and two lifestyle boutiques, Open House and Verde.
"I think it's clear that we love this community; we live here, and we have enjoyed being a part of its growth both as residents and as business owners," says Safran. "This latest project is an exciting next step for us."
Inspired by the pair's recent trips to the Mediterranean coast, Barbuzzo's menu will feature rustic, hand crafted regional fare such as Wood Oven Roasted Sardines, with piquillo pepper and preserved lemon; Burrata Mozzarella with chicory, spiced walnuts, honey and fried rosemary; Squid ink Fideo with clams, cumin and chickpeas; Minted Pea Tagliatelle with braised pork, fave beans and pig cracklings; and Pizza Uovo with spring onion, guanciale, fave leaves and farm egg. menu items will range in price from $3 to $20.
"We plan on making as much of our food as possible in house from curing our own charcuterie to hand stretching fresh fior di latte each morning," says Turney. "We'll be preserving lemons, pickling fruits and vegetables, canning marmalade's and grinding sausages to bring the vibrant flavors of Mediterranean to our guests' plates.
Executive Chef Turney's globe trotting culinary style modernizes and elevates traditional ethnic fare from Mexican at Lolita, to Indian at Bindi and now Mediterranean at Barbuzzo. She focuses on full-flavored dishes that allow the often-unusual ingredients of foreign culinary styles to shine. She recently created a signature line of chocolates, Marcie Blaine Artisanal Chocolates, which are sold at Verde. Prior to opening the first of her own restaurants, she served as executive chef at Valanni, Twenty manning and Audrey Claire.
Turney and Safran have always taken a creative approach to the BYOB format; at Lolita, they started a trend with BYOT (as in tequila) to pair with their fresh squeezed margaritas, and at Bindi, they offer a variety of exotic cocktail mixers that they developed to compliment the restaurant's Indian cuisine. At Barbuzzo, they will take the next step with signature cocktails influenced by flavors of the Mediterranean and frequently changing wine list focusing on boutique wine form small European producers to best compliment Turney's cuisine.
"We will have 30 wines available by the bottle, six reds and six whites offered by the glass or quartino. Sherries, ports and sparkling wines will round out the beverage list", says Safran.
Turney and Safran have partnered with Urban Space Development and provenance Architectural Salvage to create Barbuzzo's distinctive look and feel. Features include reclaimed wood table tops that date back 350 years, flooring salvaged from the pilings of a Maryland harbor dock and gray Italian marble counter tops. Seating will be a mixture of distressed church pews and French bistro chairs in gunmetal gray. the kitchen is centered around the steel-clad, wood burning oven used to bake Neapolitan pizzas and to roast meats, fish and vegetables. The restaurant's 68 seats include a 12 seat bar, a 14 seat kitchen counter and seasonal open-air cafe seating.
Safran and Turney worked collaboratively on the look and feel of Barbuzzo, hand-selecting all the finishes in the restaurant themselves to create a complete, transportive environment. Safran's influence affects nearly all aesthetic aspects of each of their businesses; she is the buyer for products carried in both boutiques and also serves as general manager for the restaurants. As a team, she and Turney are hands on entrepreneurs who take genuine ownership of every aspect of their business, from the look and feel of the spaces to the products and menus that they offer to the service standards of the staff.
Turney and Safran have been working since 2002 to help reinvent 13th street. In October that year, the pair opened their first business, a house wares boutique called Open House, and set the ball rolling for what eventually became a full-scale revitalization of the block between Sansom and Chestnut streets. They have since opened Lolita (2004); Grocery (2006); Bindi (2007); and Verde (2009), a gift shop offering fresh cut flowers, jewelry and accessories alongside Chef Turney's handcrafted chocolates.
Barbuzzo will serve 12pm to 12am daily. For more information, please call 215-546-9300.
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