The Resy Guide to Italian Pasta in New York

Park Slope’s resident Italian institution, al di là Trattoria, is a legend for a reason. It’s perfectly warm inside, in a way that might make you forget it’s summer in the city and/or not gently snowing outside. We come here for ever-changing pastas like the roasted squash and mascarpone tortelli and the red-beet-and-ricotta ravioli, and, of course, to sit at a long table side by side with our neighbors.

Go straight to the source with Staten Island’s Baci Ristorante. The borough has long been an enclave of Italian American culture, with the food to prove it — and Baci is no exception. Try the weekend-only Sunday gravy, long simmered with sausage, pork skin, braciole, and meatballs or the sacchettoni boscaiola, purse-filled morsels of cheese, mushrooms, peas, and pancetta, topped with a vodka sauce.

Bonafini is PLG’s answer to dining at your grandmother’s house when your grandmother doesn’t happen to live anywhere close to you. It’s comfortable, with wooden tables and friendly service, and the food is decadent in the best ways. Try the tagliatelle with roasted mushrooms and mascarpone, or the tortelloni with butternut squash. Their dinner for two ($60, not including tax and tip) is a perfect weeknight indulgence.

Tucked behind the imposing Oceans restaurant in Gramercy is where you’ll find this lovely, sleek, and welcoming ode to Italian cooking from chef Andy Kitko. The long dining room gives you a perfect view into the open kitchen where you’ll see the chefs tossing your orders of mafaldine with lobster, putting the final touches on your porcini ragú risotto with truffle butter, and portioning out generous slices of the must-order lasagna with a Bolognese ragú and wild mushrooms.

While everyone else is clamoring to get into Carbone, Torrisi, or L’Artusi (all of whom have excellent pasta), might we suggest da Toscano? While the menu is full of many non-pasta-related hits (do not sleep on those braised artichokes, friends), the pastas here are absolute standouts, worthy of your love and adoration. Our personal favorites? The agnolotti filled with lamb neck and drippings, the garganelli verde with a Bolognese ragu, and the pappardelle with Venetian duck ragu and shaved foie. Also, a slice of Grandpa Lusk’s cheesecake or the seasonal olive oil cake is a non-negotiable for the end of your meal.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t put Don Angie on here. Yes, it’s still a challenge to get a Resy here even after all these years but, honestly, Don Angie is the kind of spot worth waiting for, and worth setting multiple Notify alerts for, too. Yes, the pinwheel lasagna is as good as everyone raves, but our sleeper hit of the menu would have to be the sourdough pasta cacciatore with mezcal-braised chicken and Sicilian olives. Trust us.

If you’re in the mood for classic Italian American red-sauce fare, you’ve come to the right place when you arrive at this Bronx institution. Since 1969, family-owned F&J Pine has kept the community well fed with their renditions of chicken parm and nonna’s meatballs. The pasta options are overwhelming in their scope, but do consider Frankie’s famous ragu with rigatoni, the seafood risotto, and the fusilli melanzane with baby eggplant and fresh mozzarella.

Fausto’s orecchiette with fennel-braised pork and Tuscan kale may be one of our top pasta dishes in the city. It’s perfectly cooked, and exceptionally flavorful. In other words, what more could you want? Otherwise, go for the whole-wheat chitarra with mixed mushrooms and egg yolks, the farinata with kabocha squash, or the roasted half chicken.

For gorgeous pasta in an equally gorgeous space, look no further than Forsythia. Here, you have the option of a pre-fixe menu ($104 per person) or to dine à la carte; their ever-changing lineup of seasonal dishes will ensure you never get bored. Past favorites have included their pillowy agnolotti with braised short ribs and duck jus and their caramelle with chanterelle mushrooms and caramelized onions.

Bonus: Forsythia also hosts hands-on pasta-making classes where you can learn the secrets to making excellent pasta.

This “vaguely spooky” East Village spot opened to much fanfare last year, with their ever-rotating lineup of pastas quickly becoming a big part of that draw. There’s the aged pheasant spaccatelli, the chitarra with dungeness crab and fennel, and oxtail fazzoletti on the menu at the moment — none of which will disappoint. The gothic atmosphere and big wood-burning oven are just icing on the cake.

The cavatelli with hot sausage and browned sage butter at Frankies has gained a cult following in Carroll Gardens (and beyond), for good reason. The housemade pasta is perfectly cut by the spiciness of the sausage, balanced by brown butter, and amplified by the herbaceoous sage. It’s no wonder the wait can sometimes reach hours. We like to pair it with a crisp spritz and an order of marinated olives, and maybe a clam slice from F&F while we’re waiting.

Pro tip: If you ask nicely, the staff at Franks Wine Bar next door will let you order off the Frankies 457 menu, with much less of a wait. Plus, their own menu is pretty damn good, too.

Bring your most discerning wine friend to Lucciola, sit back, and watch them get progressively happier and happier. Get their wine pairing, no matter what, alongside the 12-course “no menu” pre-fixe ($250 per person). Dishes change daily, but the à la carte menu includes favorites like the spaghetti bottarga with caviar and uni and a risotto with duck a l’orange.

White tablecloths, low lighting, wine flowing … Lupa Osteria knows how to do dinner perfectly, and the same goes for their mastery of pasta. Try the Roman Pasta Tasting ($89 per person) with three courses, or order their glistening pappardelle alla Bolognese à la carte. Whatever you do, don’t skip the wine; the mostly Italian list is award-winning for a reason.

Macosa is comfort food personified, from their farmhouse-style exterior to their mismatched dinnerware. We’re obviously partial to the housemade pastas (don’t skip the rigatoni with wild boar or the bucatini amatriciana) but the sage and chicken liver crostini are also nothing to scoff at.

Think Lilia, but you may actually have a chance of sitting down at a time that isn’t 5 p.m. or 10 p.m. (key word is may, so set that Notify now). Misi is chef Missy Robbins’ equally delicious pasta spot in Williamsburg, serving rigatoni with a 30-clove pomodoro, bucatini with ’nduja, and of course, that famously Instagrammable ricotta toast. Our absolute favorite pasta here might be the golden occhi, filled with sheep’s milk ricotta and topped with lemon and bottarga. Pro tip: Do save room for gelato at the end, too.

This spot has been criminally delicious (and criminally under-the-radar) for more than 100 years. Go for the homemade pastas (we’re partial to the cannelloni and manicotti), the veal marsala, and the pastina in brodo alongside a healthy dose of history, old New York glamour, and of course, wine.

We dream about the pappardelle with ham hock and collards from Popina. It’s a perfect blend of classic and new, American, and Italian. The other pastas are also just as superb: Try the orecchiette with cream-doused mushrooms and cauliflower or the tortellini with squash and brown butter, if you need more convincing.

Note: From Jan. 15 to Feb. 25, chef Justin Smillie, who made a name for himself at Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria and Upland is in the kitchen over at Popina on a nightly basis. It’s a perfect opportunity to try his incredible pastas over in Cobble Hill, paired with a killer wine list from owner James O’Brien. (We’re particularly fond of the malfalda corta with a generous portion of mushrooms, brussels sprouts, and walnuts.)

Rezdôra made waves with their regional pasta tasting ($98) that showcases their truly impressive menu over a two-hour period. There’s more traditional Bolognese alongside dishes like their Grandma Walking Through Forest in Emiglia that features cappelletti verde, roasted and sautéed leeks, and black mushroom purée. You can also order à la carte, but honestly, where’s the fun in that?

Saggio is our platonic ideal of an Italian restaurant in the city. It sits on a slight uphill, giving the spot an endearing slope, and its brown-and-white striped awning gives us a sense of nostalgia that’s only compounded by the mirrors and sconces inside. We love the lasagna verde with spinach pasta, the classic gnocchi with brown butter and sage, and the imported squid ink linguine.

Bushwick’s Santa Panza is what some may endearingly call a hole-in-the-wall, with a narrow entrance and a few tables up for grabs. If you can score one, order the truffle cacio e pepe and the grass-fed beef ragu with fresh pappardelle, finished off with one of their wood-fired pizzas and a shot of housemade limoncello.

Make way for the new kid on the block. Sartiano’s recently opened in the famed Mercer Hotel under the culinary direction of famed chef Alfred Portale and, as he is over at his namesake spot, Portale, they are serious about their pasta over at Sartiano’s. The cannoli comes topped with Italian caviar, the bucatini overflows with Maine lobster, and the lasagna gets an additional boost with shavings of black truffle.

Rich Torrisi’s highly acclaimed restaurant puts its best foot forward with its pasta. There’s the raviolini with prawns and saffron, the spaghetti with lamb amatriciana, and the superbly simple tortellini pomodoro alongside other non-pasta favorites like the charred clam boule and the sleeper hit of the menu: tuna with pickled caponata.

Go here for the superb pasta menu they serve alongside occasional live jazz. Choose from a wild boar lasagna, butternut squash arancini, and something called “baby Jesus cake,” all of which we would like to eat as soon as possible. Enjoy your meal in their low-lit dining room with a bottle from their extensive list.

West Village standby Via Carota never disappoints us, especially when it comes to pasta. The Meyer lemon risotto, the cacio e pepe tonnarelli, the superior pesto that sometimes finds its way onto the specials … we can go on and on. It’s no wonder their cookbook is fast becoming a favorite of home chefs everywhere, too. And no wonder it’s still hard to get a table here, even after all these years.