Wanderlust World Wanderlust World New York's Little Italy is a major tourist attraction located in Lower Manhattan between Bleecker and Bayard (north to south) and Bowery and Lafayette (east to west). Due to the rapid expansion of Chinatown, Little Italy is smaller than it was around the turn of the 19th century, but the area still retains its historic charm. Many of the best restaurants in Little Italy have been in business for decades, while others are more recent on the scene. Choosing a restaurant among dozens of seemingly identical Italian eateries isn't easy, but here are a few that consistently top yearly "best of" lists.
This Little Italy classic on Mulberry Street features one of the area's most romantic settings, a lush garden room with Roman busts, white columns, and an expansive skylight. Il Cortile's cuisine is definitely a step up from that offered at the old canned red sauce and spaghetti standard Italian-American fare. Start off light with a puree of fava beans and seasonal veggies served with crispy homemade Italian bread or marinated shrimp lightly fried in Wondra flour and sprinkled with lemon juice. For something more substantia,l try the chicken breast with grapes in a Champagne cream sauce, pork tenderloin with sweet peppers, or veal scaloppini sautéed with asparagus, demiglace and fontina cheese. Reservations are recommended.
Il Cortile
125 Mulberry St.
New York, NY 10013
212-226-6060
ilcortile.com
Popular with Wall Street buffs, movie stars, and New York Yankee players, Da Nico is perhaps Little Italy's most popular see-and-be-seen restaurant. Traditional Northern and Southern Italian cuisine blends with stylish contemporary décor to create an unforgettable dining experience, especially if you can snag a table in the al fresco courtyard area. Da Nico's specialties include oven-roasted pork chops with hot cherry peppers, almond crusted filet of sole with mussels in white wine sauce, and chicken breast stuffed with mozzarella and spinach in a light rosemary potato crust. Da Nico's coal brick-oven pizzas are also top-notch.
Da Nico
164 Mulberry St.
New York, NY 10013
212-343-1212
danicoristorante.com
Featured in New York Magazine's "The Italian Top 10" and numerous other citywide and national publications, Peasant offers an alternative setting to enjoy food prepared by cooks well schooled in age-old Italian cooking styles. Food is served in terra-cotta pots on crowded oak tables surrounded by stark, rustic décor reminiscent of an Italian peasant's house at the turn of the century. Authenticity is the name of the game here, and while you won't find red and white-checkered tablecloths and accordion music playing in the background, you will experience something utterly unique. Peasant's chefs prepare simple Italian dishes like brick oven-baked rabbit stewed in cannellini beans and pancetta, and oval pizza bianca oozing with fresh white cheese and olive oil. As Willsiam Grime of the New York Times put it, this chic Italian eatery "may be cool, but it's not cold"
Peasant
194 Elizabeth St.
New York, NY 10012
212-965-9511
peasantnyc.com