Pic courtesy of Locanda Verde
Very rarely does a restaurant start hitting on all cylinders from the moment it opens. But to paraphrase that old ad: With a chef like Andrew Carmellini, it’s got to be good. At Locanda Verde, Italian-food genius Carmellini picks up where he left off at A Voce (which is now in Chicago transplant Missy Robbins’s highly capable hands) with a solid lineup of pastas, like spaghetti with lamb amatriciana; carnivorous dishes, like tripe all parmigiana topped with a fried duck egg; and seafood, like grilled octopus with spicy almond romesco. Thankfully, the spectacular starter of sheep’s milk ricotta with grilled bread survived the move from A Voce; it’s a must. Pastry chef Karen DeMasco, ex of Craft, closes out the show with desserts that manage to be powerfully flavorful without a lethally heaviness: Go for the puckeringly tangy lemon tart, served with a creamy buttermilk gelato to balance it out, or the heavenly toasted-almond semifreddo with bing cherries. Dinner money tight these days? Drop by the restaurant’s pastry stand for one of DeMasco’s breakfast confections.
Locanda Verde. 379 Greenwich St. between Franklin and N Moore Sts.; (212) 925-3797.
Prices/Features: MOD, VGT (See Welcome to Salmaland for key to letter abbreviations.)