La Pecora Bianca opens in NYC

PHOTO: Courtesy of La Pecora Bianca Instagram

The White Sheep has come to NoMad. Restauranteur Mark Barak, who has already created a vertible stir with his Provencal-themed menu Claudette in Greeenwich Village, last night opened La Pecora Bianca, i.e. "The White Sheep" in Italian, housed within the architectural landmark Beaux-Art building The St. James.

Interiors of the La Pecora Bianca exemplify the trend in restaurants towards simple clean lines, thus allowing the fresh white palates -- here also infused with splashes of verbana -- to promulgate a cleansing of the mind before allowing the food to richly color the imagination. The simple yet unique primi, secondi and contorni were created by Executive Chef Simone Bonelli.

Trained by the legendary food visionary Massimo Bottura -- the only episode you need to watch of Chef's Table is the one of Massimo and his luminous wife Laura Gilmore -- Osteria Francescana's former Sous Chef Simone Bonelli helms the Italian themed menu at with a steady confidence. His beautiful menu of readily understandable Italian choices then sing with a singular unique ingredient. For instance, the Antipasti of Funghi has raisins in it -- or the Pomodori does not just have shallots but pickled ones at that.

The full menu is below.