Carbone New York

181 Thompson St, New York

NY 10012, USA

Tel: +1 212 254 3000

The dishes

Rigatoni in a vodka sauce

Gaint headon prawns

Veal Marsala

One of the most interesting Italian restaurants in Manhattan is Carbone—named for chef partner Mario Carbone. Regarded as a classic—as if it has been around for decades, Carbone only opened in 2013 on the fringes of what is known as Little Italy. The goal from the beginning was to capture the appearance and spirit of the Italian restaurants from the 1960s and 1970s. Over the entrance is a large neon sign with its near garish pink/ripe strawberry light. In front of the door is what we would call a bouncer, or perhaps better a gate-keeper. His role is to make sure that only those with reservations can gain entrance into the restaurant. By design there is no bar. There is only one thing to do at Carbone: Enjoy a meal of classic Italian/American dishes which have been on menus of the original restaurants for 50-60 years. This is not neo-classical Italian food. It is an homage to its predecessors with one notable exception: The quality of the ingredients and preparations is notably superior to the originals. The retro-charm, 1970s atmosphere, old-fashioned service, the omni-present vocal music from the past would have no real value without the excellence of the food.

There appear to be two classes of employees at Carbone: a quartet of up-to-date managers who could be found at many upper-level restaurants and the service crew. The waiters look and act as if they came from central casting firms specializing in restaurant workers from by-gone eras: Friendly but a little brusque. Even the way the plates of food were placed on the table was from a much earlier era. Finesse and delicacy are not in the repertoire of these gentlemen. (There do not appear to be any female servers at Carbone, but maybe that was just an impression on my part.) The up-to-date managers appear from time to make sure that everything works smoothly. This duality was striking in the wine service. A thoroughly competent sommelier decanted the Paolo Bea wine I ordered. He then disappeared and it was up to the waiters to pour the wine–too eagerly and frequently, just as was in style years ago. In fact, I had to stop our waiter at one point He seemed shocked and frozen. Had he done something wrong? No, I said we just wanted to slow things down. (This practice was designed to get people to order another bottle in an era when wines were relatively inexpensive—which they are certainly not at Carbone.) The wine list at Carbone is, frankly, in keeping with many lists at high-end restaurants in New York: A comprehensive offering a who’s-who list of famous Italian, French, and America wines. Many are priced in the thousands of dollars. It is my opinion that many are not suitable to the food the restaurant prepares—a loving evocation and intelligent improvement of New York Italian food from fifty years ago. (It is possible to find wines on the list at Carbone that do match well with the food but only with time and effort).

The food was excellent. We shared three dishes: Rigatoni in a vodka sauce, giant head-on prawns cooked simply, and perfectly in olive oil and a magisterial Veal Chop in Marsala. The pasta was perfectly cooked with an intense creamy and decidedly spicy sauce, it was good as such a dish can be. My friend Soel ordered the head on giant prawns: Three make up an order. Sweet, fresh and meaty, they were lightly cooked in olive oil with a touch of lemon. The veal was the sweetest, most tender and perfectly cooked I have ever tasted. The meat was carefully sliced into perfect sections and reassembled on the plate. The chop’s bone had been separated and cooked to dark perfection. It is hard to imagine a better veal dish. A large serving of broccoli rabe accompanied these two courses. We were two full for dessert.

The wines

Paolo Bea 2019 San Valentino Umbria Rosso

I ordered a bottle of Paolo Bea 2019 San Valentino Umbria Rosso (as it says on the hand-written label), a mostly (70%) Sangiovese wine. This is a famous estate whose wines I have for no good reason never tasted before. What a fabulous bottle. Rich, dense, powerfully aromatic yet with a certain delicacy and restraint it worked brilliantly with the food. The sommelier decanted the wine which certainly needs aeration at this stage of its young life. At $160 it is one of the least expensive wines on the list.

When all is said and done, the amusing and convincing re-capturing of atmosphere and physicality of the Manhattan Italian restaurants from long ago at Carbone alone would alone make getting a reservation—very difficult indeed—worthwhile. But it is the food which is the ultimate reason to dine at Carbone. I entered Carbone a sceptic. I left, if not a convert, impressed both with the food and with the atmosphere in the restaurant. The owners have succeeded in making the past of New York/Italian dining come alive in a convincing manner by bringing the quality, but not the style, of the food of a bygone NYC era into a contemporary level of excellence.