Maialino is a neighborhood Italian restaurant located at the historic Gramercy Park Hotel. The goal of the design was to capture the feeling and the warmth of a traditional local trattoria, but reinvented in this contemporary setting.
Just inside the entrance is a warm, neighborhood café. At seated or standing tables placed on a stone mosaic floor, guests are served espresso, breakfast, lunch or dinner. An apothecary-inspired wine room off the café allows the space to transform into a wine bar in the evenings. Backlit blackboards at the bar announce featured wines and the daily changing specials.
No Italian trattoria would be complete without a traditional Salumi station. Between the café and the main dining area is a stone-tiled area with two stations, one for meat and cheese, and another for desserts and bread. Both stations are custom made of stone, metal, glass and reclaimed wood. At the Salumeria-inspired butcher area, cheese and meat are plated for diners, with prosciutto and ham on display. At the dessert and bakery station, a barista prepares espresso and cappuccino, and gourmet treats are served out of custom glass display cases.
The main dining room is infused with the same elegant but casual feeling of an Italian trattoria, with windows overlooking the lush Gramercy Park. Loose tables and custom woven leather booths and banquettes are carefully placed throughout the space so that every seat would be a prime one, without ever losing the sense of informality. The floors are wood parquet, and the walls are covered with textured plaster and reclaimed wood wainscot. The space is anchored by a ceiling-height wine display wall, which also acts as a screen between the main and private dining rooms.
The private area is filled with warm, saturated colors that create a rustic and home-style feeling for the large communal wood table that can seat up to 22 people. An oversize chandelier hangs over the table, and the floating wine display wall provides a filtered view into the main dining room.