A.O.C. Moving to Il Covo Space

The original A.O.C.

By Lesley Balla

Just as A.O.C. rounds the 10 year mark, Suzanne Goin and Caroline Styne announce that they will be moving the restaurant from its current West Third Street digs to a new location just a little more west on West Third: the Il Covo space. Il Covo, owned by Sean MacPherson and Jared Meisler (Roger Room, The Pikey, Bar Lubitsch, Jones Hollywood), will close at the end of the year.

The move means many things for fans of one of the original small-plates restaurants in town. There's a lot more space, with a (mostly) outdoor dining area and a second floor dining room. The kitchen has a wood-burning oven, so there will be foccaccia that Goin has been serving on some nights at the original, as well as paella. And even bigger news: there's a full bar, so expect some pretty dynamite cocktails.

When MacPherson and Meisler took over the former Orso space, they completely gutted it and renovated it to a point where it looked and felt like it had been there forver. (Though they did have to slice off the tops of the trees on the patio for the roof.) It's sort of dark, romantic, cozy. What Goin and Styne will do design-wise is yet to be seen, but they plan to open in early 2013, so we assume not much.