Rabbit Raw Food Restaurant and Fragile Flower Bakery Open in East Village

The raw-food tasting menu may bring to mind a certain true-crime Netflix series about a closed Manhattan restaurant, but Ravi DeRossi’s new spot promises something brighter and more playful.

Rabbit opens Wednesday at 122 E. 7th Street between First Street and Avenue A and is headed by Xila Caudillo. Caudillo, who worked as an employee of Overthrow Hospitality for six years, first at her brother’s restaurant Avant Garden, and most recently at Etérea, was on a raw-food diet in her youth. Her first dinner surprised the group as she wondered how she could create a raw food tasting menu that would satisfy many. “It was amazing,” says De Rossi. “Syla blew us out of the water.”

Rabbit will be the latest addition to the much-talked-about De Rossi restaurant’s collection. A predominantly female-run vegan place, it’s a stylish spot that prioritizes drinks as much as food. Caudillo, a Mexican, wanted to include Latino producers on the menu, so natural wines, for example, are offered by Latino winemakers and labels.

Two women stand on either side of a sign that says — Lauren “Lo” Serrano and Xila Caudillo, Ravi DeRossi’s Rabbit team of chefs.

Low-alcohol cocktails that highlight fresh-squeezed juices and infused waters come from the acclaimed Sother Teague behind Overthrow Hospitality spots like Amor y Amargo.

Unlike most full service restaurants, there are no servers here. A handful of employees, including sous chef Lauren “Law” Serrano and general manager Katie Blank, serve food and drink to diners in the marble-clad bar.

Rabbit, cute animal and alice in wonderland‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ is a bright little spot with 12 seats and a 13-course storybook menu with poetry and drawings created by Gary Bassman. There are some reimaginings of familiar dishes, such as tomato and watermelon gazpacho. Beetroot ravioli with smoked pine nuts. Tomato and basil lasagna. Saffron milk with sea moss and rosewater, or Pastor’s tacos. Cost is $75 before drinks.Seating is at 6pm and 8:30pm

The 18-year-old Bourgeois Pig (DeRossi’s first bar and restaurant) has moved across the street at Chef Shenari Freeman’s Cadence. With Overslow Hospitality opening the restaurant’s revolving door, it makes sense for the group to keep the space and give it a new look in the coming months.

A few weeks after Rabbit opened, The Fragile Flour will open at the same address as a vegan dessert and wine spot starting September 7th. Burlesque dancer Lady Ashton Warren (ex-Restaurant Marc Forgione) creates desserts. Look for items like coffee rum-soaked chocolate cake with hazelnut mascarpone ‘tiramisu’ and brulee his lemon chamomile cream pie with meringue.

Overslow Hospitality Wine Director Drew Brady said: Today DeRossi is behind other spots such as Death and Co., Amor y Amargo, Avant Garden, Proletariat and Soda Club. Since he first opened his Bourgeois Pig, there have been 12 open or opened restaurants and about 20 locations in total. The group plans to open two more spots in six months.

Usagi is open Wednesday through Sunday. Reservations are required and can be made through SevenRooms.