A new Italian restaurant is open at Somerville’s Assembly Row, and it’s good news for fans of the now-defunct Carmen in the North End. La Cucina Italian Eatery now serves dinner daily at 400 Assembly Rw., bringing a homey dining experience to the Somerville retail and residential complex.

At La Cucina, Jeff Malloy — who ran the popular North End restaurant Carmen until its closure in 2016 — plans to deliver an experience that pays homage to the neighborhood’s history in automotive manufacturing, as well as his own history in Italian dining. (Malloy previously planned to open a more direct rebirth of Carmen at Assembly Row, but La Cucina moved forward instead of that project.)