L’Artusi

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

Executive chef Joe Vigorito has run the kitchen at this two-floor Italian spot since 2016, sending out pastas that read simple on the menu and taste anything but: a spaghetti finished with garlic, chili flake and parmesan stock, a mushroom garganelli as dense with flavor as a pate. The room includes a cheese bar and a counter facing the open kitchen, with a 2,500-bottle cellar downstairs for private dinners. Resy releases tables two weeks out at 9am, but the bar and counter take walk-ins first come, first served. Brunch runs loudest, especially once the vermouth spritzes start flowing.