firstlook

by A.D. Amorosi

For Angelina, Stephen Starr’s eighth restaurant venture (and his first attempt at Italian food), Starr, chef Christopher Painter and the design team of Jun Aizaki and Owen Kamihara (of Buddakan fame) made the former L’Ange Bleu literally red hot. If you look past the blood-red glow of the lounge area, with a Starr-signature backlit red resin bar, or through a glass of one of Angelina’s designer cocktails, like the namesake mix of Frangelico, Absolut Vanilia and espresso, you’ll sense the brightness of the warm red dining room ahead. Smiling Mona Lisa lamps hang above the lounge’s banquette, a round Stork Club-like booth with large reproductions of Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus on the side. This pastoral landscape signals a divide in Angelina’s nature, a ripe setting for Painter, previously at Starr’s Tangerine, to take on Italian classicism with equal nods toward North and South. Both the food and the room’s design have an ornate, highly stylized but comfortably homey feel. If polpette and polenta (meatballs with tomato and oregano) doesn’t taste familiar, the ceiling and floors do -- there’s still the blue-and-white mosaic of L’Ange Bleu. The red, pink and cream colors of the toile wallpaper remind me of being at my aunt’s house for Sunday dinner. Oddly enough, in opposition to the eclecticism of other Italian restaubars, Angelina’s dining-room wallpaper is one square, seamless blend throughout. The effect of one singular pattern is as awesome as the grilled bronzino with fregola and raisin or the rib eye and broccoli rabe are delicious.

Angelina, 706 Chestnut St., 215-925-6889.

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