Revealing the Menu at Origen, Set to Open in October

Grid View

• The Locanda da Eva sign, top right, has still got to go.
• The marble bar is staying. It's seen several restaurant concepts pass through. The glass and cushions, however, are out.
  

Photos: Molly DeCoudreaux

The restaurant vets behind Nibblers-cum-The Fig Tree, Tracy Leighton and Daniel Clayton, have pushed the opening of their latest venture Origen to early October. Even before signing the lease in July, the new "farm to fork restaurant" has been on the offensive, convincing everyone the Telegraph Ave. address is not a "hard-luck location." (Remember Robert Lauriston's Locanda da Eva shuttered at the very same address, not five months after opening.)

Keeping in line with the restaurant name, Catalan for "from the source," the preliminary menu meticulously lists out every star ingredient's origin from Happy Boy's heirloom tomatoes to Happy Quail padrons. See wood-fired pizzas come with a gluten-free crust option and main plates span the globe for influences. You've got your gnocchi, your tamales, and a "paella of the hour" that's made from scratch—like they say—every hour. For the rest of September, Leighton and Clayton just have to finalize their new logo (the one on the menu shown will be changing) and put the restaurant through a hearty sandblasting session. Thanks to the $400,000 recently spent in renovations, they say the space is "very very turnkey."

· Previous Origen Coverage [~ ESF ~]