It’s not hard to find good pizza in New York City. Go to L’industrie (West Village, Williamsburg) and get the signature, then another, then a slice of fig-jam-and-bacon pizza. Thank me later.
But it is hard to find a place that does good pizza without anything else feeling like an afterthought. I’ve eaten at some incredible NYC Italian restaurants where the pasta was great, but the pizza was not. Or vice versa. You rarely hit that full-mode kitchen that can do anything well, and keep the price reasonable.
L’Amico is rare in that sense. It’s a hotel restaurant that doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant, and it’s in a part of Manhattan where the food kind of sucks. The latter is more important here. There’s just not much around L’Amico, and so there’s less competition. Chelsea is still severely lacking in reliable, affordable options for a satisfying lunch, and so the second of Kimpton Hotel Eventi’s lobby restaurants has plenty going for it.
L’Amico is a good restaurant, but it’s better by default. Pull it closer west to Barbuto, and I’d pick the warehouse restaurant any day. Push the prices up to meet Scarpetta, and I’ll run straight over to NoMad. But where L’Amico is at right now seems just about right for the kitchen, which understands that New York’s whimsical culinary experiments can’t quite beat simple-done-well.
And L’Amico is very simple. It’s not where you’d take a date to show off your sophisticated takes. It’s not even a special occasion for a group of friends. I like how it’s not even trying to be. It’s where you go when you want gorgeous, fresh burrata (US$21) or smart profiles like prosciutto San Daniele with its creamy profile heightened by a dried cherry mostarda and whipped ricotta (US$24). It’s a great hotel restaurant.
Red sauce classics are all over the menu. Enormous veal and mortadella meatballs (US$24) are a must, as is the mighty generous escarole salad (US$18). But it’s the pizza that scores top marks. It’s nowhere near as unique and addictive as the aforementioned L’industrie, but chef Laurent Tourondel has five wood-fired options that are all around the US$25 mark and can easily be shared between three.
Tourondel’s White Mushroom pizza seems like one of those options that has never left the menu. Truffle paste is lightly spread across a chewy base with fontina, taleggio and sage. The difference is in degrees. Nothing feels overdone here, balancing out each ingredient so you can discern the toppings rather than perceive them as one slimy mess sliding across the palate.
Nothing is overdone here. A garden-fresh chicken ciabatta (US$25) comes lightly stuffed with shaved fennel and rocket, and flavoured with basil pesto and chicken jus. Even the cacio e pepe soufflé (US$24)doesn’t feel gimmicky, even if slicing open a jiggly omelette to get at rich, sharp gorgonzola-flavoured pasta is an outlier on the otherwise traditional menu. It tastes as you’d expect, though, with both the egg and the cheese being a bit too heavy.
Some Italian restaurants in New York City go heavy on the sauces. Some rely on making their pastas as rich and indulgent as possible. Some hope that the power hit that comes with dropping US$60 on an appetiser will mask the lack of quality. L’Amico just seems to want to serve delicious, garden-fresh Italian food without cracking your credit card.
There’s plenty of room for that in a city that’s always foolishly chasing trends.
Best dish: Mushroom pizza, burrata
Wouldn’t Order Again: Cacio e pepe soufflé omelette
THREE STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
L’Amico
Address: 849 6th Ave, New York
Contact: +1 332-301-2958
Price: $$$
The author ate at L’Amico as a guest.
