On February 5, Scott Conant’s Faustina, serving up soulful Italian, will open at the Cooper Square Hotel. The previous tenant, Table 8, evacuated on January 4 making way for an airer, cozier restaurant boasting menu items described by Conant as ’sex in a bowl.’

The first-floor restaurant and café have been redesigned and renamed (Faustina was an ancient Roman empress), and will showcase Conant’s homey approach to Italian cuisine, including black truffle risotto, balsamic-glazed pork spareribs with tomato chutney and tajarin pasta with tomato and sea urchin. The restaurant is inspired by the chef’s appreciation for how different cultures approach Italian food, and his dishes are at once familiar and modern.

The 3,500-square-foot space has retained many of its signature elements, including the painter Stephen Hannock’s mammoth canvas, “Chelsea Winter with Elevated Park; New York High Line.” The architecture firm Bentel & Bentel, which recently received an American Institute of Architects award for its Craftsteak design, was charged with gently tweaking it.

25 Cooper Square, New York, NY (212) 475-3400