Enter Gemma, and you'll land yourself waiting for a table with much the same exclusive A-list crowd that you did time with at a certain well-hyped West Village tavern last month. So blatant that mirrored scene is, that the heavily buzzed eatery is already being billed as the Waverly Inn's East End cousin.

Waverly-esque in more ways than one, the hotly anticipated restaurant is a similarly proportioned, art–directed – albeit celebrity-studded - trattoria, this time contained within the confines of the new Bowery Hotel. That being said, you would be hard pressed to find more high-octane frenzy over what is really just another tavern. And who better to do it than Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson, who with Graydon Carter to bring the place together.

Designer Taavo Somer (designer of Freemans) has carved quite the hip trattoria out of a space that wasn't very accommodating for creative decorative invention. But, in Somer's hands, Gemma has become an attractive refuge. It is countrified to the core, but not in a dull way, as it squeezes a surprising amount of charm from simple effects: clusters of candelabras fill every flat surface; large chandeliers, hovering over aged wood tables, warm up the room considerably. Wrought ironwork and post and beam elements finish up the Gemma package. Large tables fill the front area, amongst the warmth of exposed wood beams and copper pots hanging on the walls. Wood-burning oven bustle with activity.

Goode and MacPherson enlisted Chef Chris D'Amico (La Bottega) to create their Italian menu. It's straightforward fare, really, just the same classic American plates found at Waverly. And there is certainly no shortage of rustic tavern food at any amount of restaurants from the Lower East Side to Washington Heights.

Still, D'Amico's cooking is quiet and engaging. He takes the tavern repertory and adds his own hip tweaks to the dishes in unexpected directions but does not overwhelm them. In keeping with the hipster Italian trattoria theme, D'Amico does great work with antipasti and cheese plates.