Via Carota, one of the best restaurants in NYC, doesn't take reservations, and there's pretty much always a wait of two or more hours. Obviously, that's kind of annoying, but it doesn't deter us from eating here. This place manages to stick out among thousands of Italian restaurants in NYC by making food that’s unfussy and uniformly delicious. A meal here should involve some of the dozen-plus vegetable dishes, the steak tartare-like svizzerina, and the cacio e pepe (which is non-optional).
From the folks at Carbone who brought you the $89 veal parm with a side of paparazzi, this Noho restaurant is a full-on production. It’s big, it’s flashy, and, against all odds, it actually has a personality. Torrisi is more Italian-ish than straight-up Italian, and the more-inventive dishes are just as good as the classics. For a fun celebratory dinner, this is one of your best options.
There are a ton of Italian restaurants in Brooklyn, but there’s nothing else like Lilia. The space feels like a glamorous, whitewashed warehouse, and their modern Italian food is always perfectly executed. While this place is great for special occasion dates and impressing out-of-towners, our favorite way to eat here is by grabbing a few seats at the bar. Start with a negroni and an order of squishy focaccia, and plan to go deep on pastas.
Whenever we recommend Emilio’s Ballato in Nolita to someone, we receive an answer along the lines of, “I’ve always wanted to go there, but I need some place that takes reservations.” To which we say: No you don’t. It’s high time you waited in line for some of the city’s best old-school Italian food, like exemplary baked clams, bolognese, and veal parm. And if you do end up sitting next to someone famous while dining, consider that not the point, but an added bonus.
Borgo is a seasonal restaurant in Nomad from the team behind Brooklyn spots like Diner and Roman’s, but it’s a lot less neighborhoody than its predecessors. Inside the sprawling restaurant, there’s impressively spaced-out tables, flickering taper candles, and a pasta dish called the timballo di annelletti, which tastes like an extra-fancy take on a can of SpaghettiOs. Classy without being stuffy, familiar but still inventive, save this restaurant for a special occasion.
Who needs the Amalfi Coast when you can have a meal-length vacation at Adrienne's? There’s something a little bit magical about this Broad Channel location, especially the back deck, with gorgeous waterfront views of Jamaica Bay. It’s like you’ve found yourself at the end of the world, only to discover they make excellent pastas out there. Sit outside beneath a cheerful, orange striped umbrella, and order the rigatoni bolognese, which comes with a fat, creamy blob of whipped ricotta.
Going to an Italian restaurant doesn’t have to mean spending $35 on three noodles. If you just breathed a sigh of relief, pay a visit to Cobble Hill’s Lillo Cucina, where almost everything is under $20, and it’s all excellent. The tiny, walk-in-only spot doesn’t sell alcohol or have a bathroom, but it makes up for it in free bread, and a recommendation for the best carbonara in Rome from Lillo himself. (Priceless.) Order tender artichokes swimming in olive oil, and saucy rigatoni alla gricia.
The menu at Fausto in Park Slope hasn’t changed much since it opened in 2017, and that’s one of the reasons why we like it so much. That, and the fact that the people in the kitchen know how to make a great bowl of pasta (which makes sense: both co-owners come from L'Artusi). Order things like hearty orecchiette with fennel-braised pork and some kale, or the punchy fettuccine with tomato sauce and calabrian chili.
Formerly located on Grove Street, in a room the size of a shipping container, I Sodi now has a larger home around the corner on Bleecker. It’s not as charming as the original, but now you have a better chance of snagging a table, so we’ll call it a draw. Like the plain farmhouse interior, the Tuscan food here isn’t anything too elaborate. Don’t skip the simple vegetable dishes, which are often just a pretense to eat cheese and olive oil, and focus on the pasta.
Misi is a Williamsburg restaurant from the people behind Lilia, and its basic premise is: f*ck entrées. This is an Italian restaurant where the menu has three sections: antipasti, pasta, and gelato. There are always 10 pastas on the menu, and choosing between them will be the hardest decision you make all year. But here's a tip: The best things at Misi are the simplest. Try the fettuccine with buffalo butter and black pepper, and don't skip the unbelievably good gelato.