Shauna Lyon: Estela in Nolita Review: The New Yorker In the narrow space above his perennial dive bar Botanica, Mark Connell has enlisted the intriguing chef Ignacio Mattos to liven up the place. It was most recently Nolita House, a comfort-food standby. Mattos left Taavo Somer's Isa last year, owing to artistic differences - the chef was pioneering avant-garde dishes like "calamari, ink, pil pil, dill" and "porridge"; Somer wanted meatballs and kale pizza. At Estela, Mattos has loosened up. Gone is the austere air of mystery - the menu, while spare, has prepositions and conjunctions - and the food on the plate is not just recognizable but decadent and delicious. Mattos's menu, which changes daily, is dominated by snacks and appetizers, like the plate of Olli's ham from Virginia - thin and silky, less salty and more luscious than prosciutto - or cured hunks of sardine, meaty as mackerel, served with matzo flatbread. For those who can't get enough burrata, there is a sublimely creamy one here, and on a recent night it was made even more romantic with Maldon-style salt flakes, radish, and lovage. Beef tartare with pickled elderberries and tiny fried sunchoke chips erred on the sweet side. But poached egg with gigante beans, shaved cured tuna, and bread crumbs became a dreamy, umami-rich bean soup upon stirring. An elegant yellow chrysanthemum meticulously fashioned from raw baby-squash circles gave way to layers of anise-flavored hyssop leaves and bright-pink yuzu-cured trout. Once the main courses arrive, it's a surprise to find out that skirt steak is a match made in heaven with anchovies and charred eggplant. Of the three desserts, the honey panna cotta with Moscato vinegar was the winner, even if the friendly proprietor who delivered it had tasted the same dish at Franny's the night before and worried that theirs was better. All this kitchen avidity competes somewhat with the aggressive drinks program. Thomas Carter, a former sommelier at Blue Hill Stone Barns and a co-owner of Estela, has put together an outsized wine list - ten pages, including four Grüner Veltliners for more than a hundred dollars each - that seems like overkill for a menu with just four entrées. Cocktails like the Valuable Lesson (a Negroni homage, with rum, Campari, Madeira, and an orange peel the size of a Post-it) and the perfumed Rosemary Society (gin, pear brandy, lemon, grapefruit, rosemary) go down easily. The bartenders are sly and formidable in their knowledge of spirits, if unmindful of the fact that they are standing in a site that played a key role in downtown New York's glorious gritty past. When a Gen X patron recalled coming to the space when it was the original home of the Knitting Factory, then noted that CBGB is looking to relocate, the Gen Y bartender mused aloud, "Just let it go." (Open Mondays through Saturdays for dinner. Entrées $22-$29.) ♦