New Orleans: Domenica
Alon Shaya partnered with F&W Best New Chef 1999 John Besh on this homey Italian restaurant in the Roosevelt Hotel. Shaya worked in kitchens around Italy for a year to develop the menu, which includes house specialties like limoncello, salumi and pasta. The pizzas are made in a Pavesi wood-fired oven with a rotating stone deck. He uses pecan wood in the Pavesi for pizzas like his cotechino, topped with oven-dried tomatoes, scallions and pork sausage.
New York City: A Voce Columbus
Restaurant offshoots don't tend to get buzz, but the second A Voce has generated as much as the first did. "I never expected we'd get this much attention," says chef Missy Robbins. Credit the incredible view, new dishes like pancetta with pork belly and figs, and bottles like the 2006 Ornellaia Le Volte ($58) on wine director Olivier Flosse's impossibly deep list.
Philadelphia: Amis
Marc Vetri (an F&W Best New Chef 1999) is a master of sophisticated Italian, but lately, he's been skewing casual. His newest place, Amis, specializes in Roman comfort food. Amis's industrial-chic space doesn't look like a trattoria, but dishes like the gnocchi alla romana with oxtail ragù convey an authentically rustic feeling. The succinct wine list has just two dozen Italian bottles, and all are available by the glass.
New York City: Maialino
Owner Danny Meyer led Gramercy Tavern alum Nick Anderer on an epic five-meal-a-day tour of Rome to research dishes like malfatti al maialino (suckling-pig ragù with hand-torn pasta and arugula). The almost-exclusively Italian wine list includes finds like the earthy 2001 Bovio Barbera d'Alba Regiaveja ($52).
Minneapolis: Bar La Grassa
Chef Isaac Becker of 112 Eatery opened his latest place in part so he could cook pasta every which way: "Dry and fresh pastas both have their merits. I get to showcase them side by side." Becker uses dry Rustichella d'Abruzzo pasta for dishes like his rigatoni with milk-braised chicken and makes fresh pasta handkerchiefs to serve in a pesto sauce with whole basil leaves. The wine list covers the globe but is strong on Italy.
Piedmont, Italy: La Rei
Sommelier Matteo Toso's wine list at the resort's restaurant, La Rei, reads like a tribute to the region's star grape, Nebbiolo, with a huge selection of Barolos from nearly 50 of the greatest producers. To go with the wines are chef Chen Shiqin's traditional Piedmontese dishes. Shiqin has trained for 10 years with consulting chef Gian Piero Vivalda at his famed Michelin two-star Antica Corona Reale da Renzo, perfecting classics like beef stew cooked in Barolo and tajarin egg pasta with loads of shaved truffles.
