Williamsburg’s Michelin-starred Francie (136 Broadway) is getting a sibling.
Francie is an elegant brasserie from Chef Christopher Cipollone and John Winterman that opened during the pandemic with a European-leaning menu.
Francie’s new sibling, which will be located next door, is called Allegretto al Forno (132 Broadway). The newcomer’s menu will be inspired by Chef Cipollone’s southern Italian roots, offering Neapolitan pizzas and small shared plates.
The road to opening Allegretto al Forno has been long, Chef Cipollone told Greenpointers. When the building next door to Francie went up for sale about two years ago, Chef Cipollone wanted to jump at the chance to open a new restaurant perfectly situated for Francie’s staff. Another selling point was the courtyard behind Francie’s dining room that is part of the building next door.
But the building needed a lot of construction, which is still taking place. “It turned out to be a bigger project than we thought,” Chef Cipollone said.
An end is now in sight, and Chef Cipollone is excited to introduce Allegretto al Forno, a more casual spot, to the neighborhood.
“Francie has become a staple, and we are proud of that,” Chef Cipollone said. With Allegretto al Forno, the team “wanted to do something more casual where we could serve more people.”
Pizza originates in Naples, as does Chef Cipollone’s family. So, when the chef started thinking about a second restaurant, pizza (which he calls “the best comfort food,”) immediately came to mind.
“The idea of Allegretto is to do Italian pizza like you would find in southern Italy with other fun small plates,” Chef Cipollone said.
When Chef Cipollone went to Naples on a research expedition, he noticed that a lot of restaurants offered fritti, or fried appetizers. As an homage to Naples’ fritti, Allegretto al Forno will offer a fried bucatini dish as one of the starters. There will also be other snacks, but “pizza will be the star.”
“There will be a ton of pizza from traditional to interesting,” the chef told Greenpointers, highlighting one pie with duck sausage, a nod to Francie’s signature duck dish.
Chef Cipollone and Chef Justin Binnie, also from Francie, have been working on recipes while construction continues.
The team doesn’t know when construction will finally be completed, so there is no opening date right now, but they hinted at a possible December opening if all goes well.