L'Apicio Gets a Star

Pete Wells awards one star to L'Apicio, Joe Campanale and Epicurean Management's fourth venture. With dell'anima, L'Artusi, and Anfora each intimately sized and all in the West Village, L'Apicio breaks the mold in size and location. The 180-seat space opened on the ground level of a new condominium building on East 1st Street in the East Village, but that hasn't stopped the clientele from filing in in droves since the restaurant opened in October.

In his review, Wells finds the polenta alla spianatora "good enough to anchor a meal at L'Apicio." "The polenta dishes," he continues, "along with most of the pastas and appetizers, are handled so expertly that it almost doesn’t matter that L’Apicio’s grasp of the main courses is much less steady." A few marks were missed along the way, but the solid one-star review left Wells writing, "Many restaurateurs would like the secret to making people take up an imperfect restaurant the way New Yorkers have already taken up L’Apicio."