Description
Housed in a glassy cathedral of a space on a shiny stretch of the Bowery, L'Apicio can feel like that one restaurant in every American town where the people with money come to dine. Still, this latest addition from Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale's Italian-inflected mini-empire tastes better than it looks. Find refined, esoteric pastas and ethereally creamy polenta, the likes of which are so expertly crafted that the restaurant's other flaws can be mostly forgiven. Though many dishes are too heavily salted, the ones that work are masterful Italian gems with a lot of soul, hiding in this charmless, incredibly noisy dining room. --Tejal Rao
