Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria

On our list of the best special-occasion restaurants in New York.

This East Village restaurant runs half as dining room, half as Italian pantry: an Alimentari counter up front sells house-cured salumi, cheeses and the kitchen's own olive oil and vinegar, while the Vineria side serves fresh pasta, house-baked bread and a wine list built around it. The market opens at 8am for coffee and pastry before the kitchen shifts to lunch, then dinner. A bistecca with salsa rossa and lamb chops with herb yogurt hold up after a chef change, and a bowl of spaghetti with lobster never quite feels like enough. Reservations run through Resy, though the market side takes walk-ins all day.