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[title]RECOMMENDED: Food & Drink Awards 2013
Other Nominees: Il Ristorante Rosi Parmacotto, L’Apicio, Rosemary’s
West Village restaurant titan Gabriel Stulman (Joseph Leonard, Fedora) continued his shift from humble neighborhood taverns to chef-driven blockbusters this year, teaming up with prodigy Michael Toscano to open this pasta lover’s dream—your pick for the year’s finest Italian upstart. From an open kitchen, Toscano dispatches blackened tentacles of meaty octopus, veal heads roasted into luscious submission, and gorgeous pastas woven around cockscombs, slicked with ragù and buried in salty shavings of Parmesan. And though this food ascends into the upper levels of lustiness, the room has its own red-blooded electricity: Glasses of Barolo clink at the bar; patrons chatter around snug, tufted booths; and the smell of a wood-fed oven perfumes the air. Perla, 24 Minetta Ln between Sixth Ave and MacDougal St (212-933-1824, perlanyc.com)