Staten Island Style: Rubirosa and Pier 76

Just over a year ago, a Staten Island specialty (complete with one of its most famous namesakes) was ferried to Manhattan in the form of Rubirosa. Setting up shop in Nolita, across the street from Torrisi Italian Specialties, together they've established a bastion of neo-classic Italian cuisine along the edge of the less-than-classics of Little Italy, just a block away.

Despite high expectations (especially for the pizza), I've yet to be disappointed with anything I've eaten on numerous lunchtime visits. 

Socarrat Nolita: Too Close for Comfort

Inundated by poor iterations of perhaps the most iconic of all Spanish foods, it's almost as if New Yorkers like the idea of paella better than the dish itself. How else can one explain how we continue to tolerate the ubiquitous concoctions of soggy rice containing overcooked seafood at nearly every tapas restaurants? But our paella prayers were answered when owner Jesus Manso opened Socarrat Paella Bar in Chelsea.

Named after the crispy rice that forms on the bottom of paella pans, Socarrat was immediately given the title of having the "best" paella in all of New York. Naturally, people flocked to this shoebox of a restaurant, often enduring hour plus waits only to be packed in tighter than sardines in order to savor the restaurant's namesake dish. Although intrigued, Socarrat's no reservation policy (and elbow room) had always deterred us from visiting. But learning that Socarrat recently opened a sister restaurant in Nolita that (gasp) accepted reservations, and was more spacious to boot, gave us the perfect opportunity to see for ourselves just how good this paella really was.