The name means “ugly face,” but Faccia Brutta, the Newbury Street restaurant from Jamie Bissonnette and Ken Oringer’s JK Food Group, draws inspiration from attractive locales: sun-soaked coastal Italian destinations like Sicily and Sardinia.
The sibling to the ever-popular Toro, Coppa, and Little Donkey debuted in late May 2022, along with Bar Pallino, its natural wine bar offshoot downstairs, but the venues have been in the works since before the pandemic. The project included a gut renovation of a Back Bay space that previously housed a couple of salons; the result is a spacious, attractive restaurant on the ground level, a front patio sure to be a hit all summer, and a dark, intimate bar below.