Taschen’s New York

All you need to know about this absolutely delicious Italian restaurant, located at the far western edge of Soho and Tribeca, is the owner’s name: Giorgio Deluca. Yes, it is that Deluca, the legendary co-founder of the Dean & Deluca gourmet grocery chain. In his signature restaurant, the pasta is perfection, the seafood fresh, and the service as smooth and smart as the clean white interior. Giorgione’s has been a hit with New Yorkers since it opened in 2001, and it draws a lively crowd.

Taschen’s New York is available to purchase here

Tucked down a nondescript street on the burgeoning Hudson Square, Giorgione walks softly but carries a big stick. Owned and founded by Giorgio Deluca (of Dean & Deluca), the restaurant first gathered a following for its octopus salad—these days, it stays packed for its honest Italian fare. Inside the narrow dining room you’ll find sleek chrome tables, cool white leather seats, and icy blue walls—all the better to let one of the ace pizzas from the wood-burning oven warm you up. Specials rotate daily, but you might find arigatoni alla Normatossed with a judicious amount of silky eggplant, ripe tomatoes, and milky ricotta; or a flakycrostata, glazed with red currants and topped with mission figs, lemon rind, and a smear of mascarpone cheese.

The exuberant mood and high decibel levels at this SoHo Italian reflect its high-spirited owner, New York foodie founding father Giorgio DeLuca, whose culinary savvy helped transform our idea of the grocery store. His chef  shares his reverence for the perfect ingredient, be it an heirloom tomato or the perfect roasted peach. With its raw bar, its pizza oven, and its traffic-stopping dessert cart, Giorgione hits all the right sensory buttons. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld