Arrivederci, ramen and bibimbap — it’s celebration season for Italian meal lovers. A 1/2-dozen impressive new and new-ish restaurants are re-energizing New Yorkers’ favored delicacies.
This clean crop isn’t obsessed with red sauce or overworked Tuscan recipes. Instead, it displays influences from up and down the Boot between Italy’s Alpine and close to North African extremities. Although a number of the locations claim thought from one particular place, they’re mostly pan-Italian — an amazing thing unless you’re a grinch approximately “authenticity.” A observe: These marketplace-attuned menus trade extra than most, so don’t be shocked if dishes referred to right here aren’t there whilst you go. But either way, you’ll Mangia bene.
Il Divo
Who knew that timid Upper East Side tastes might want to tolerate a lot of delight! At this fashionable corner spot, in which pix of silent film megastar Rudolph Valentino festoon the partitions, executive chef Matteo Limoli’s hearty, richly conceived Italian classics almost make you wistful for iciness. His menu focuses on significant- and northerly-Italian dishes, now not unlike at Antonio Sinese’s eating place in Milan. The Osso Bucco risotto ($36) became better than any I’ve had in Italy, and artfully textured pasta — such as cavatelli with octopus Genovese ragout and crackling breadcrumbs ($25) — consider Michael White’s first-rate paintings at Marea. 1347 Second Ave.; 212-380-8164
Feroce
This multiroom extravaganza — a collaboration between TAO Group and Francesco Panella, the man at the back of Williamsburg’s warm Antica Pesa — can be as ferociously loud because the name indicates. But the David Rockwell-designed space is likewise remarkably grown-up, with its heat glow, comfortable booths, and striped leather banquettes stimulated using antique Ferrari upholstery. Start things off with gnocco fritto ($sixteen), a whirl of fried dough with pistachio mortadella and a parmigiano-reggiano “cloud.” My favorite pasta is the impossible to resist casarecce alla Luciana ($28) — tactile, twisted noodles wealthy with octopus, tomatoes, olives, and capers. A salt-crusted, marketplace-price sea bass flamed tableside (“in the main for presentation,” they admit) once in a while emerges dry. However, the spectacle was plenty amusing to watch because of the energetic, worldwide crowd. At the Moxy Chelsea Hotel, 105 W. Twenty-eighth St.; (212) 888-1092
D’antan
Some of the fine selfmade pasta on the town waft from the open kitchen at this convincingly rustic, Piedmont-inspired Crown Heights spot. James Brown’s “Get Up Offa That Thing” barely dents the illusion. Owner Alessandro Trezza chooses substances with sustainability in thoughts. Everything’s organized with a loving element: a glowing salad of arugula is crowned with multicolor heirloom tomatoes, crisp, skinny peach slices, and crackling sliced almonds ($14). Tagliatelle with braised venison ragu ($24) is a residence satisfaction; however, don’t leave out well cream-unfastened, tacky-eggy tonnarelli pasta carbonara with braised guanciale ($19). A grilled octopus tentacle ($18) sported tongue-tickling suckers and top-notch-tender flesh inside.
You’d better love herbal wines — “always the solution,” a signal claims — because they have got one hundred of them. If they’re now not your cup of booze, there’s a protracted list of Italian vermouths and vermouth-based total cocktails. 858 Bergen St., Prospect Heights; (718) 484-3944
Rezidor
It’s worth dealing with the racket and cramped quarters for chef Stefano Secchi’s sinfully scrumptious Emilia-Romagna creations. Pasta selections are the menu’s coronary heart, and they may be devoured in a $90, 9-path tasting that’s filling sufficient to fell you by using the fifth item. They’re all meticulously al dente and sensuously composed, like uovo raviolo ($24 an l. A. Carte) stuffed with egg yolk and surrounded through morel mushrooms and black desserts. But different mains preserve their very own, such as a luscious sea bass filet ($28) on a pillow of Fagioli, peas, and black garlic zabaglione. 27 E. Twentieth St.; (646) 692-9090
10 Corso Como
At remaining, an elegant, modern Italian eating place inside the South Street Seaport/FiDi region. It’s partly swallowed up with the aid of the massive Corso Como design store. Still, the gleaming current placing — whole with massive round cubicles, best for lingering over a lengthy dinner party — pops first-timers’ eyes. Chef Jordan Frosolone’s menu isn’t as regular as it might be; however, its excessive aspirations and frequent successes are a miracle amid the nabe’s by and large antique-college pasta warhorses. A thrilling, saffron- and Parmigiano-rich risotto Milanese is an excellent bargain at $19. Other standouts consist of killer beef loin ($38) and bone-in beef rib-eye ($ fifty-eight). Seaport travelers hoping for Italian-American one hundred and one is probably disappointed — however, New Yorkers can be pleased. 2 hundred Front St.; (212) 265-9500
Benno
Executive chef Jonathan Benno’s high priced, prix-fixe ($one zero five to $a hundred and fifty-five for 3 to 5 courses) jewel-container restaurant is technically Mediterranean. But the Italian spirit infuses the menu’s French and modern-American dishes and unabashedly blossoms inside the pasta category. More often than not, Benno sends pedestrian lobster Fra Diavolo to completing college, combining it in a simplified presentation with the curled shell pasta referred to as lumache. Meat-based picks are just as pleasant. Nubbly, gnocchi-like malloreddus are ideal automobiles for rugged braised lamb, San Marzano tomatoes, and Sicilian oregano. The steeply-priced, relaxed dining room proves that “best dining” isn’t dead — it’s just finished without tablecloths. Thanks to the elegance of Benno’s cooking, you received’t notice they’re now not there.
