New York - April 19, 2004

Gone With the Wind

Vento Restaurant Opens

Now, class, it’s time for an urban-history lesson. Today’s lecture: Evolution of an Establishment.

In the mid-nineteenth century, this subterranean space under Hudson and 14th Street was a Civil War hospital. At the turn of the twentieth century, it housed stables for carriage horses. More recently, it took a turn for the seedy (oh, who hasn’t?) as S&M club the Vault and gay club the Manhole. In a burst of Oscar glory, the Ed Harris suicide plunge from The Hours was filmed upstairs.

Logically, it’s now New York’s hottest restaurant.

Steve Hanson continues his conquest of the elements with Vento (Italian for “wind”), the casual trattoria outpost of his three-star Fiamma (you know, “fire”). The main floor is all windowed walls, making for an open-air feel. The second floor is more of the same, with relief from the teeming streets below. If you’re prone to flashbacks, you might have to restrain yourself in Level V, the basement lounge that used to be the Vault. (Then again, you could always book a private room at V and go wild.)

Your history, after all, is your business.

Vento, 675 Hudson Street, at 14th Street (212-699-2400).