Building on the success of its Flatiron district Italian spot originally dubbed A Voce—now called A Voce Madison—the Marlon Abela Restaurant Corporation opened A Voce Columbus late last month. In the space vacated by Café Gray last summer, this new eatery inside Columbus Circle's Time Warner Center is larger than its downtown sibling and offers two areas for private dining. In the kitchen is chef Missy Robbins, who earned a name for herself at Chicago's Spiaggia and serves her style of seasonal Italian fare here.
The Rockwell Group, which fashioned the interiors at Café Gray, redesigned the 9,000-square-foot space, this time placing a partially open kitchen to one side to allow diners an unobstructed view of Central Park. Decorated in ivory and chocolate brown and furnished with contemporary leather and walnut wood accents, A Voce Columbus offers an open-plan main room with 34 seats at the bar and lounge near the front of the space and 114 seats in the dining area.
Running down one side of the venue is a glass-encased gallery of wine that showcases the restaurant's 9,000-bottle collection and acts as a partition between the main room and the private dining section. An intimate 12-seat niche known as La Tavola is suited for wine tastings and small dinners. For meetings and larger groups, the adjacent 66-seat space is also available, and leather panels—which allow the room to be split in two—provide a soundproof barrier.
