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[title]OTHER NOMINEES: Fatty ’Cue (West Village), Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria, Zabb Elee
Young guns Mario Carbone and Rich Torrisi, two fine-dining vets, brought a cool-kid sheen to red-sauce plates in 2010, when they debuted Torrisi Italian Specialties, a deli by day and haute eatery by night. You lined up for their buzzworthy hoagies and hard-to-score dinner seats, packing the joint until it outgrew the space. The pair smartly split the operations, devoting their bare-bones flagship to tasting menus and transplanting the sandwich offerings to fetching diner digs next door. Sometimes it’s hard to transfer the magic along with a menu, but this sophomore effort went platinum fast. To bolster those wildly popular Parms, Carbone and Torrisi tackled suppertime grub. Inspired riffs—a juicy pork chop pizzaiola, seared and smothered in tangy peppers and onions; a showstopping tricolor ice-cream cake with spiritual roots in the Carvel canon—transcended old forms, proving that this duo’s signature refinement of humble Italo-American classics is more than a flash in the pan. Parm, 248 Mulberry St between Prince and Spring Sts (212-993-7189, parmnyc.com)
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