Rocco Simulacrum
"A new Italian spot? You've been there before," writes the New York Times in their recent review of Carbone, the latest link in the Torrisi chain of restaurants, opening tomorrow in the space held by Rocco's from 1922 until 2011 when they were evicted by an impossible rent increase--from $8,000 to $18,000--and the popular Torrisi company quickly took over their lease.
Rocco, 2011
Carbone, photo the Times
The Times says Carbone "pays tribute" to the red-sauce joints of the 1950s "in a space that used to house Rocco, which specialized in that kind of fare for nearly a century. Just about every element — the menu, the music, the uniforms, the décor and even the servers’ banter with customers — will be engineered to conjure up the feeling of a lively night downtown, circa 1958."
Of course, Rocco's had all of this--and it was actually authentic, because on the day it closed it was still basically the same as it was in 1958. And for years before. It didn't have to "engineer" or "conjure up" any feeling. It was the thing itself. But the real thing, we see again and again, isn't good enough for this new city. The real must be evicted and replaced with an upscale simulacrum of itself.
Rocco: photo Mitch Broder
Carbone, photo the Times
The Times article continues, "you might say it’s the middle of the last century as interpreted by chic players from the early part of this one: the contemporary art on the walls of the three rooms will be curated by Vito Schnabel, a son of the painter and film director Julian Schnabel, and the servers will wear vintage-style vests and tuxedos conceived by the designer Zac Posen."
(They also ripped out the authentic, antique tile floor and put in a new tile floor modeled on an idea of the authentic--in fact, modeled on a floor seen in the Godfather movie.)
Rocco, 2011
Carbone, photo the Times
Fedora, Minetta, Bill's Gay 90s--you, too! None of you were living up to your potential. On it goes in the authentrification machine. We are surrounded by facsimiles of the erased, and The Powers That Be keep telling us: This is real. The buzzy Orwellian doublethink turns everything around. Can the real be engineered? Can authenticity be conjured? More and more, we're living in an Epcot Center Jurassic Park of a city. For your safety, please keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.
Carbone homepage
Further Reading:
Rocco Ristorante
Rocco's Update
Torrisi on Rocco
Rocco's and Bill's
Red-Sauce Joints
Carboned
Rocco, 2011
Carbone, photo the Times
The Times says Carbone "pays tribute" to the red-sauce joints of the 1950s "in a space that used to house Rocco, which specialized in that kind of fare for nearly a century. Just about every element — the menu, the music, the uniforms, the décor and even the servers’ banter with customers — will be engineered to conjure up the feeling of a lively night downtown, circa 1958."
Of course, Rocco's had all of this--and it was actually authentic, because on the day it closed it was still basically the same as it was in 1958. And for years before. It didn't have to "engineer" or "conjure up" any feeling. It was the thing itself. But the real thing, we see again and again, isn't good enough for this new city. The real must be evicted and replaced with an upscale simulacrum of itself.
Rocco: photo Mitch Broder
Carbone, photo the Times
The Times article continues, "you might say it’s the middle of the last century as interpreted by chic players from the early part of this one: the contemporary art on the walls of the three rooms will be curated by Vito Schnabel, a son of the painter and film director Julian Schnabel, and the servers will wear vintage-style vests and tuxedos conceived by the designer Zac Posen."
(They also ripped out the authentic, antique tile floor and put in a new tile floor modeled on an idea of the authentic--in fact, modeled on a floor seen in the Godfather movie.)
Rocco, 2011
Carbone, photo the Times
Fedora, Minetta, Bill's Gay 90s--you, too! None of you were living up to your potential. On it goes in the authentrification machine. We are surrounded by facsimiles of the erased, and The Powers That Be keep telling us: This is real. The buzzy Orwellian doublethink turns everything around. Can the real be engineered? Can authenticity be conjured? More and more, we're living in an Epcot Center Jurassic Park of a city. For your safety, please keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times.
Carbone homepage
Further Reading:
Rocco Ristorante
Rocco's Update
Torrisi on Rocco
Rocco's and Bill's
Red-Sauce Joints
Carboned
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