What are NYs Top Five Italian Restaurants?
Posted by Ed Levine, September 13, 2006 at 9:10 AM For more than a century New York has been awash in Italian restaurants, from Barbetta in the theatre district, to Gargiulo’s in Coney Island, to Mario’s on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx to Parkside in Corona Heights, Queens. And for almost that long New Yorkers have been arguing about which Italian restaurant is the best. Of course chef/restaurateurs like Mario Batali have in the last ten years redefined the New York Italian restaurant (both the food and the experience). In fact people like Batali and his partner Joe Bastianich, Lydia Bastianich (Felidia) and Tony May (San Domenico) have raised the Italian food bar considerably higher. So I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about what are the city’s top five Italian restaurants, and I’ve decided that these are the contenders, in alphabetical order: Al Di La Babbo Del Posto Esca (full disclosure: I’ve written a cookbook with Esca chef/partner Dave Pasternack) Felidia Il Mulino (I’ve nev
