Headliner

Pasta Eater

When Giusto Priola, a chef, opened Cacio e Pepe, a Roman-style restaurant downtown, he said his friends were surprised. “My friends know I’m from Sicily, and they kept asking why I was doing Roman restaurants,” he said. The simple answer is that his chef was Roman. Here, at his latest restaurant, Mr. Priola is featuring the food of Southern Italy. The chef, Luigi Cetrulo, is from Puglia, and, as the name of the new place implies, pasta gets top billing. “I make the fresh pasta, and Luigi cooks it,” Mr. Priola said. The pasta-making operation is on display at the end of the restaurant’s bar, at the front window. Burnt-wheat (grano arso) cavatelli, troccoli and orecchiette from Puglia share the menu with Tuscan pappardelle, Roman rigatoni alla carbonara, Sicilian paccheri and tagghiarini with cheese and prosciutto served in a wheel of cheese. Marinated anchovies, octopus, seafood skewers and lamb chops round out the menu. The narrow, simply decorated room, a few steps below street level, has a long bar and tables. (Opens Thursday)

9 East 17th Street, 212-627-5910, pasta-eater.com.

Opening

The Elgin

Should you desire a French-onion-soup burger with bone-marrow-glazed onions, beef and onion demi-glace and Gruyère cheese, that craving can easily be satisfied at this new Midtown gastro pub. It’s a spacious affair on two levels, with a 60-foot bar on the ground floor and another bar on the mezzanine . The chef is Sean Olnowich. The restaurant’s name refers to the Elgin Botanic Garden, which was installed in this spot in 1801 and is said to have been the first botanical garden in the United States. The garden fell into disuse, and in 1814, the land went to Columbia College, which later leased it to John D. Rockefeller Jr. for Rockefeller Center.

64 West 48th Street, 212-221-2100, elginnyc.com.

JaJaJa Plantas Mexicana

The tiny Lower East Side branch of this vegan Mexican restaurant has acquired a much larger sibling in the West Village. The menu features signature dishes like meatless black bean “chorizo” and “carnitas” made with shredded hearts of palm, with new additions, like an avocado soup and a yuba taco. The space is divided into several rooms with a patio garden, and this location will have the same colorful aqua-driven look as the original.

63 Carmine Street (Bedford Street), 917-472-7880, jajajamexicana.com.

Night Music

The prolific downtown restaurateur Ravi DeRossi is offering vegan interpretations of Indian food at his newest spot, a makeover of Fire and Water, another of his restaurants . He is calling this latest an exotic vegetable bar. At her home in Denver , his mother, Sharmilla Lalchandani, has been showing the executive chef, Spencer Caine, how she makes family-style vegan dishes, like yellow lentil dip, bharta (stewed eggplant), brussels sprouts saag and dosa wraps. Rajah Abat, who worked at Gabriel Stulman’s restaurants, shares executive chef duties.

111 East Seventh Street (First Avenue), 646-767-0476, nightmusicny.com.