"Italian-American food may seem a dime a dozen in New York City, but this is the sort of place you'll need to return to at least four or five times to eat everything on the menu you want to order. The husband-and-wife chefs, Scott Tacinelli and Angie Rito, have been cooking together for nearly a decade—before this they were at Quality Italian in midtown—and whip up an inventive menu of next-level Italian-American: Think a stuffed garlic flatbread starter, with cheese oozing out of every tear; a take on Chrysanthemum salad generous with grated Parmesan; and a garganelli giganti pasta, cooked in a salty, delicious guanciale and pecorino ragù that's basically the spaghetti and meatballs of your dreams. Drinks stand up, too: a Nonna's Little Nip, a blend of grapefruit, Campari, and prosecco, or a Pinky Ring, a swirl of rye, Carpano Antica, Galliano, and Campari, are just what you need to take the edge off. —Lauren DeCarlo, contributor"
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