The most showstopping dishes, intended for sharing, include hunks of lamb and veal and pitch-perfect risotto for two. The all-Italian wine list is suitably encyclopedic and exorbitantly priced-TimeOut
The house-made fusilli with bone marrow and baby octopus tentacles in an unctuous tomato ragout was a rich, rib-sticking contender. Sedanini swimming in a smoky cod-chowder sauce was another. -TimeOut
The rigatoni alla vodka is like a Gucci edition of the overexposed Italian-American standard, its exceptional house-made maccheroni drenched in spicy cream and sweet melted onions. -TimeOut
Dunk the warm country bread in Umbrian olive oils produced exclusively for Il Buco. You’ll have no trouble finding a wine to match your meal; Il Buco’s list is one of the city’s best. -TimeOut
Nor will the chef’s ravioli—as delicate as silk handkerchiefs and oozing pungent robiola. Try the rich, crumbly brown-butter plum cake. -TimeOut
Antipasti include delicate baby artichokes. Among the pastas that follow is an excellent spaghetti alla carbonara with egg yolks, guanciale and heaps of black pepper. Entrées, like Maialino, -TimeOut
Named after the Tuscan thoroughfare. Basic cooking is no exception, redolent with whiffs of home kitchens and hands-on Sauté 101 classes. But the soulful Italian plates served at Via Carota. -TimeOut
Jaeckle’s Italian cooking leans to the East with a lyrical hamachi crudo tickled by olive oil and soy, or creamy fried sweetbreads spun smoky by fluttering bonito flakes. -TimeOut
Handmade pastas—frail ricotta gnocchi in light tomato cream, fat tortelli bundles oozing an absurdly rich mix of braised meats—are fantastic across the board. -TimeOut
Fittingly, rustic dishes are best: Choose shimmery sardines; sizzling, golden-skinned hen; or pleasant suckling pig liver, all pulled from the wood-burning oven. -TimeOut
Toothsome anelloni rings are tossed in a generous jumble of wilted mustard greens and house-made spicy lamb sausage, while a soothing mac and cheese features cannolicchi curls gooey. -TimeOut
The toque offers assaggi like a rich lasagna al forno. But the namesake artisanal meats are probably the best reason to visit (try the prosciutto and mortadella). -TimeOut
Thick-cut cacciatorini luxuriates in a shallow pool of olive oil infused with oregano and garlic, while in another dish, white anchovies keep company with celery, parsley and preserved lemon. -TimeOut
Meaty mains are regulated to nightly specials only, like the succulent Thursday night lamb chops, instead spotlighting that feast-starting first act (primi piatti). And rightly so. -TimeOut
Along with the traditional pies (Margherita, Napoletana), the toque turns out outré renditions like an okra-and-lamb-sausage number and one with pecorino, crumbled potato and crispy guanciale.-TimeOut
The menu from Hearth and Momofuku alum Jordan Frosolone taps into his father’s Sicilian lineage and is similarly masculine, heartily garnished with pistachios, olives and pork sausage. -TimeOut
