he true test of character comes when a well-respected chef rises to a culinary challenge and doesn’t back down (a rather chivalric cooking code that only true food-masters can appreciate). Now entering the ring, Fabio Trabocchi. Known as Food & Wine's Best New Chef in 2002, the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington's Chef of the Year (2005), and just last year, the James Beard Foundation's Best Chef (Mid-Atlantic), Trabocchi took a risky career move when he arrived in the big foodie city of New York to assume chef-partnership of the reimagined Fiamma on Spring Street in Soho.

Evidently, this was not a guy whose career needed a boost. However, a man that leaves it all behind in pursuit of glory and success among some of North America’s toughest food critics (especially in a restaurant that had garnered a Michelin star and three from the Times under its previous chef) deserves some admiration for this gutsy move (if not what some may consider a completely ludicrous decision). Clearly, the stakes were considerable, and makes a dining experience all the more intriguing.

Arriving on time, I informed the hostess that my dining partner was running late. Instead of being ushered out to the streets, she invited me back to the bar, where I was assured Javier would take care of me. And take care of me he did. Looking for that sweet something, Javier (every barman should be named Javier) concocted the Fruit cocktail and quelled my concerns of contracting E. coli by explaining that once the egg white touched the alcohol, bacterial concerns were a thing of the past, and you were left with a garnish and frothiness courtesy of the chicken’s byproduct. The drink was sweet enough, although few are sufficiently unalcoholic-tasting for my fluffy pink poodle of a cocktail palate. Next to the new glassware, Javi (Oh yes, we’re on nickname basis now) practically gleamed with pride behind the bar. A good sign that the changes had undergone while transitioning from Fiamma Osteria to simply Fiamma were settling well with the staff. By the time Gourmando arrived, Javi knew my name and wished us a splendid meal.

Fiamma is a veritable hug of a place even beyond the solicitous service. The walls are a glossy, comforting reddish wood and much of the tableware is made of this terrific thick, bubbly glass. This is somewhere you want to hang out. The language is welcoming, too. When our waiter brings us a little something—which most restaurants call an amuse-bouche, or simply an amuse—to start the meal, he refers to it as “a treat from the chef.” The simple choice encourages diners to feel that Chef Trabocchi is personally catering to them. What a treat indeed! Whipped cod, crispy squash blossoms, and a little cup of tomato water that somehow managed to be utterly tomatoey even though it was colorless. Culinary magic beyond David Blaine’s street stunts was on the table, and the show had just begun.