Figulina brings creative pastas and apertifs to Raleigh's Warehouse District

For more than 30 years, Humble Pie delighted Raleigh eaters from the Warehouse District before closing last fall .

Dig in: In its place a familiar face in the local culinary scene has stepped in, offering a colorful concoction of pastas and drinks.

• Figulina — the debut restaurant from chef David Ellis, who most recently worked under Ashley Christensen at Poole's Diner — opened its doors for the first time in the last week of February.

What to expect: When you walk in the door, the cozy traces of Humble Pie remain, including the green and white checkered floor and string lighting, though other decor has gotten a modern refresh.

• The menu is heavy on sharing — there's even a large community table — with half a dozen generously sized pasta dishes, including a soft, pillowy gnocchi topped with turnip pesto and a crab-infused bucatini.
• The pasta is all handmade and will rotate throughout the season. A window in the dining room allows guests to watch it being made.
• If you look closely, the influences of Ellis' British heritage are also on the menu, including a starting plate that includes a delicious combination of lamb and grilled soda bread.

But the hallmark of the restaurant's menu might be its reverence for apéritifs and digestifs, the popular Italian custom of drinking a small amount of alcohol before a meal to stimulate an appetite or after to help with digestion.

• An entire menu, front and back, is dedicated to walking the eater through the concept and describing the particular flavors of the liqueurs, like the Nonino Amaro, which offers notes of apricot and saffron, or the bittersweet combination of caramel and cinnamon in Cynar.

For dessert , another piece of the Warehouse District is represented, with Videri providing the chocolate used in a melt-in-your-mouth tart.

Location: 317 S. Harrington St., Raleigh

Hours: 5-10pm, Tuesday through Saturday

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