Take a look at this place. No, really, take a look.
What you’ve just looked at: Masseria, an indoor/outdoor Italian oasis tucked among the warehouses near Union Market, soft-opening tonight.
Okay. So now you’ve seen the big metal door that leads in here, the lights hanging from ropes, the benches modeled after sports-car seats. It’s all a little bit Los Angeles, a little bit 1950s Italy. And here’s how you’ll experience it:
Five courses under the retractable roof. Which is where you’ll find yourself in basically an open-air dining room, with Mediterranean-tile floors and farmhouse tables. They’ll give you a menu full of pastas (open ravioli with shrimp and zucchini), fish and meat (sausage-stuffed quail). Just start picking. If you want four pastas, go for it.
A special occasion at the chef’s table. Your chef: Nick Stefanelli, late of Bibiana. This is where he’ll cook for you and five of your friends.
Smoking cocktails at the indoor/outdoor bar. They make a show of things. Like pouring champagne over vodka-infused lemon sorbet. Or finishing a Sazerac-ish drink with plum-scented glycerin smoke.
Actual smoking in the outdoor lounge. Low couches. Fire-pit tables. And a humidor full of cigars at your disposal.
We assume vaping is fine, too.
