Catch Il Buco on the right night, and it’s as close to a bull’s eye as you’ll get in NYC dining. Of course, saying that any restaurant hits the bull’s-eye is asking for trouble. No, Bond Street’s stalwart Italian restaurant Il Buco isn’t perfect—meaning you’re not going to have flawless food every single time you go, and your server won’t always win your undying love, and on busy nights you might even have to wait a tad bit past the point where you’re ready to walk. But very few other restaurants (in the neighborhood, in America, in existence) nail so brilliantly [...]

The NYC pizza wars continue. I have to say, there was a time—namely during a week in Naples some years back—when I became convinced that New York does pizza better than the Italian city’s lauded piemakers. But funny thing is, lately the more a pizza reminds me of those bubbly-soft, tomato-sopping, basily Naples pies, the more I love it. Hence Forcella’s inclusion on Salmaland. [...]

It took me a while to warm up to DBGB’s room: It can feel a bit cavernous and cold. But once you start in on chef Daniel Boulud’s reengineered burgers and sausages and assorted versions of bistro/American greatest hits—and get absorbed in all the celeb-chef-donated copper cookware lining the walls—suddenly all is warm and luscious and [...]

Is it because it’s tough these days to pick a name that isn’t already taken? Or because The Smile is just a spot-on name for a caffeine fill-up station? Who knows. Swing by for a couple of exquisite espresso shots in one of the most beautifully furnished little rooms in [...]

Sometimes the only thing that will do is a griddled Venezuelan corn cake smeared with salty white cheese, or with sweet plantains and avocado, or with grilled chorizo and jalapenos. These aren’t those flabby street-fest arepas. At Caracas Arepa Bar, they’re expertly [...]