Modeled after Venetian cicchetti (aka small plates) bars, just-opened Aria's filled its wood & brick nook with a white tile drink station and prominent black boards boasting both vino (made exclusively by female winemakers) and pre-prohibition-style cocktails to wash down small plates of beef meatballs w/ oven roasted tomatoes, grilled eggplant stuffed w/ goat cheese, and individual cheeses like River's Edge "Up In Smoke", which critics must have been themselves to think Keanu had a future in acting.
Aria: 117 Perry St, btw Greenwich and Hudson St; West Village; 212.242.4233