Ammazzacaffé, an Italian-inspired restaurant in Eastern Williamsburg just west of Graham Avenue, more than ably marries consistent quality with affordability. For that, it’s been included lately among the batch of local restaurants to get on the Michelin’s Bib Gourmand list. An under-the-radar spot, a visit there last week confirmed that it deserves those Michelin-brand epaulettes, both for their food and their carefully curated list of amaro and wine. 

A typically churlish Italian food purist might purse his lips at the idea of Kelly Hau, originally from Taiwan, and Gary Tackett, an Arkansan raised on casseroles and biscuits, partnering for a venture so steeped in the eating and drinking traditions of middle and southern Italy. The retort would likely be that they aren’t attempting a strictly “traditional” Italian menu, but instead taking what they’ve absorbed of that culture and doing what comes natural with it.  

“I started cooking Italian food in the early 90s, at a place called Bella Italia, in Little Rock,” Tackett said in an interview. “I’m originally from Arkansas, but I’ve been in New York for almost 20 years, been cooking for 27. I’ve been in and out of Italian food most of that time, with a little Peruvian, New American, French.”