An Italian restaurant is opening inside Longoven in Scott's Addition

Lost Letter, a casual and affordable Italian restaurant from the Longoven team, is opening inside Longoven in Scott's Addition on Thursday.

Why it matters: Bon Appétit twice named Longoven one of the 10 best new restaurants in America.

Details: Lost Letter will be open every Wednesday through Sunday serving a frequently changing, Northern Italian-heavy menu drawing on co-owner and executive chef Andrew Manning's decade of cooking in Alba, Italy.

• Diners can expect menu items like housemade pasta and mains including braised rabbit and grilled branzino. Pastas are priced in the teens and entrees in the low-20s.
• The new restaurant will take over Longoven's front dining room, bar and patio space. The 4-year-old Clay Street restaurant will still offer its 13-course tasting menu in the back.

After two years of pivoting and trying new concepts in an industry that was hit hard by COVID-19, co-owner Patrick Phelan said he's finally feeling excited about the future again.

• Lost Letter brings together the a la carte and experimenting of the pandemic, along with work-life balance for the team and staff.

In addition to Lost Letter, the team is working on Nokoribi inside The Veil's new tasting room coming soon.

What they're saying: "It's kind of the beginning for us … back to our Sub Rosa pop-up days," Phelan says.

Phelan wants to be clear that Longoven is not closing and fine dining is not dead.

• "I think there's plenty of people who love tweezer food," he tells Axios. "We're not going anywhere."