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The Lost Letter team
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Lost Letter is located in the front dining room of Longoven restaurant at 2939 W. Clay St. in Scott’s Addition; Longoven’s tasting menu will remain available in the back of the space.
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Fresh-cut pasta from Lost Letter
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Guests dining at Lost Letter
One of the first desserts Megan Fitzroy Phelan of Longoven made during her career as a pastry chef was tiramisu. Over 20 years later, the Italian classic is found under the “dolci” section of her latest menu, neatly dusted with cocoa and precisely cut. And while meticulous, thoughtful work is to be expected from the chef, the traditional dessert may not be one diners expect to find at Longoven, known for its boundary-pushing tasting menus — and that’s because it’s not.
On Thursday, Jan. 26, Longoven will introduce a spunky, rustic Northern Italian concept known as Lost Letter. Located in the front dining room of the space at 2939 W. Clay St., Lost Letter splits the Scott’s Addition eatery into two distinct restaurants, each with its own cuisine and culture, but with the same team at the helm.
“I think we got to the end of [2022] … and started brainstorming some ways that we could really elevate Longoven and elevate that experience and get it back to kind of the dream we had,” says chef Patrick Phelan, co-owner of Longoven and Lost Letter with his wife, Fitzroy Phelan, and chef Andrew Manning.
“I would say, too, also a big part of this decision was kind of forcing ourselves to get out of this position of coping that I feel like our industry has been doing for the past couple years and to just really dream and go after it,” he adds.
The trio’s intention for Longoven, which began as a series of intimate pop-up dinners at Sub Rosa Bakery in 2016, has always been to give diners an immersive multicourse tasting menu experience, but pandemic pauses and pivots forced the team to stray from that original vision. Lost Letter is a chance to recapture it.
“Naturally, we have all the hesitation and anxiety of making it work, but also this massive shot in the arm of creativity and ambition, and kind of back to, why did we open a restaurant,” Phelan says.
While Longoven has always operated as a two-in-one, with the 22 seats closest to the kitchen meant for tasting menu guests, and an a la carte menu available in the front of the restaurant and at the bar, the clear separation is a new approach.
Described as a billboard for Longoven, Lost Letter feels like a slow and more casual ease into the refined tweezer dining of the tasting menu experience. In terms of decor, it’s warm and cozy, with updates so delicate — a chalkboard with daily specials, wall sconces holding flickering candles — they’re almost hard to pinpoint.
In contrast to the lively new tenant in the space, the dark and moody den at the back of the restaurant dedicated to the tasting menu now seems to demand a respectful silence upon entry that wasn’t quite there before.
“Our hope is that we have designed something that is really fun and charming to walk through to get to a tasting menu,” Phelan says. “A pretty lively, high-paced Italian spot that you have to take that journey through the restaurant to get to that experience.”
Drawing influences from the Piemonte region of Italy, the largest part of the menu is composed of antipasti dishes. Anchovies in a punchy verde sauce — salty, bright and acidic; a creamy and soft la tur forno cheese swaddled by speck before baking; and vitello tonnato, a cold dish of sliced veal with tuna, lemon and capers. Current primi (first-course) dishes include a knife-cut tajarin pasta with a clove-heavy Piemontese ragu, and mushroom and fresh ricotta tortelli in a sage butter, while secondi (second-course) options include braised meats from pork shank to rabbit, and side dishes, aka contornis, are largely vegetarian.
Returning to their roots with authentic food that they love has been cathartic and comforting for the proprietors. Manning spent over a decade cooking in Alba, Italy, where he was joined for a period of time by Phelan, and Fitzroy Phelan gained her chops at Parm restaurant in New York City.
At the bar, Jas Singh, formerly of Restaurant Adarra, has crafted a cocktail menu centered on classic Italian spirits, alongside a hefty list of Italian vintages selected by sommelier Grayum Vickers.
While balancing two restaurants may be ambitious, Phelan says the enthusiasm and “Let’s do it” response from the staff convinced him to keep moving forward with the idea. Describing the process as collaborative, Phelan says he also believes the shift has made Longoven stronger, and even more holistic.
“I’ve felt the closest back to those Sub Rosa days during our first two service nights,” he says. “I’m so happy we came to a decision that didn’t say, ‘Hey, let’s push forward with what Longoven has been doing,’ but actually have the opportunity to say, ‘Hey, let’s make a decision that actually allows us to push forward with Longoven and make it even more special and back to what we want that tasting menu to be from the get-go.’ ”
Lost Letter is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to 10 p.m. Longoven is open Wednesday through Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m; reservations required.
