We made our second visit to Falai, and if anything it was even better than our first last fall. The room is chicly unpretentious, in the manner of many Ludlow area restaurants: a thin, long room, principally white. It could be a shoebox stood on its side. The food is refined Italian cooking that manages to deliver robust flavor along with a restrained hauteness. We both had roasted rabbit loin, deconstructed into a neatly methodical line of meat, kidneys and liver—with the legmeat shredded, braised in white wine and served up as a sort of dumpling to the side. The service is attentive but informal. Well, we were very happy.
And not just with the food: Many small and particular producers like to feature their wines at small and particular restaurants. At Falai, where the wine list is slender and focused, we experienced a delightfully obscure, greenish-gold aromatic white grape found only in the Carso, a tiny sliver of a DOC within the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region running down the southern border of Slovenia. This picturesque area, with its chalky limestone and sandy soils, is home to many traditional winemakers whose reputations outstrip their tiny properties. The Vodopivec family, who produce the Vitovska varietal, are among these winemakers. The family adheres to biodynamic agriculture and keeps their yields extremely low. The wine comes nonfiltered, aged in French oak for two years with an additional six months in the bottle before its release. If you’re lucky to find this 2004 vintage wine from the 240-odd cases the family produces each year, you’ll encounter a well-balanced, medium-bodied wine with exceptional concentration of flavors midpalate and a silky mouthfeel. The acidity is somewhat mild, but carries the flavors to a very long finish. And what might those flavors be? I noted oxidized apple, blood orange, wildflower and lemon. This wine can age a long time. The color is opaquely amber with pink tints. For this wine, you’ll likely spend in the neighborhood of $100—which may seem exorbitant in these times. But it was my birthday. Forgive me! Falai, 68 Clinton St., New York City.
