Located on bustling 6th Avenue in the West Village is the recently opened Italian specialty market Travelers, Poets & Friends. From One More Hospitality Group, the team behind successful Italian restaurants Alice and Osteria 57, the meatless new market concept is an all-day venue with in-house options available from morning to evening with shopping and prepared takeout available all day.
Spanning two storefronts, the market is centered around a bar that serves as a cafe with pastries in the morning before converting to a wine bar in the afternoon offering light snacks. The bar is fronted by a common area with seating at tables or on cozy furniture facing the avenue. On the far side of the bar is an open kitchen with a counter for ordering the sweet and savory items on display — including pizza, spuntini (many of the fried variety, like cacio e pepe fritters and arancini) prepared vegetables and seafood as well as house-made bakery items. The surrounding space includes a fresh pasta kiosk, a gourmet grocery featuring high-end Italian produtti, locally-sourced fruits and vegetables, tinned fish, and condiments. The adjacent room features a sit-down restaurant.
With a focus on responsibly sourced ingredients, high-quality food and the well-being of the surrounding neighborhood, Travelers, Poets & Friends is focused on the ethos that food is medicine, and Chef Riccardo Orfino and the team are working with Registered Dietitian Asia Rosso, who oversees the health and wellness section of the market, assists on recipes and the prepared
meal offerings and offers one-on-one consulting for customers.
[See Orfino's recipe for vegan Bolognese sauce, featured on Appetito.]
“Travelers, Poets & Friends is a complete labor of love and embodies the work we are trying to do at One More Hospitality,” says Orfino. “We are committed to creating a better market where we offer only real food – strictly using ingredients you can recognize, and sourcing from local, organic farmers that I have built relationships with over the years. We are really excited to introduce it to the West Village, and hope our neighbors come hungry and leave satisfied.”
Travelers, Poets & Friends, 457 6th Ave, NYC, 10011, 212-420-0057, @travelerspoetsandfriends, travelerspoetsandfriends.com
