The year of the European outpost in NYC

I can walk out of my door on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and within minutes, grab a sandwich from Florence’s All’Antico Vinaio, walk a few blocks uptown and order a pizza from L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the legendary Neapolitan pizzeria. Once I’ve consumed these, I might linger downtown and order the tasting menu at the also legendary Roman, Roscioli or I could head further uptown, take a seat beneath red Murano glass chandeliers and tuck into the veal tonnato at the Monegasque Rampoldi. If feeling a bit more French than Italian I could choose between celebrity-watching at Caviar Kaspia, the Parisian institution with an outpost at the Mark Hotel or shell out a very reasonable $34 for steak frites at the just-reopened Le Relais de Venise.

Every one of these establishments opened NYC outposts in 2023, perhaps as reactions to Americans’ thirst to travel to Europe post-pandemic. Before 2023, Antica Pesa (first established in 1922 in Rome’s Trastevere and still going strong after over a decade in Brooklyn), seemed to dominate the sister restaurant scene. But now, NYC might be swiftly morphing into Europe, with concepts and menus copied and pasted from across the pond and, also beyond – as 2023 has also brought replications of restaurants that were born in Israel, Japan and Korea to New York. So, skip the transatlantic flight.

Make your way through these European outposts in Manhattan.

All’Antico Vinaio

_{Photo: author's own}

After a month-long 2019 pop-up at Joe Bastianich’s Otto, the first New York All’Antico Vinaio opened in Times Square in 2021. 2023 welcomed an outpost on the Upper East Side to great fanfare. New York now boasts a whopping three locations of this sandwich shop, an institution in Florence for over three decades. Known for their Tuscan schiacciata bread, which is stuffed with an array of delightfully oozy cheeses and thinly sliced meats, there are just a few differences between the American and Italian menus. The bread is a touch saltier in New York. The prices are higher. There is a sandwich called the New Yorker, filled to bursting with roast beef, onion porcini cream, tomato and rocket, that doesn’t appear on the Florentine menu. Other than that, you can skip the trip to Florence and tuck into many other Florentine favourites: the aptly named La Paradiso, for instance, with gossamer-thin mortadella and indulgent pistachio cream.

Rampoldi

New York’s first and only Monegasque opened across from Lincoln Center in September 2023 and it is an absolute stunner – with a twin sister in Monaco, situated steps from Opéra de Monte-Carlo. The red Murano glass chandeliers are the same in New York and Monaco. The benches, the marble, the menu – all virtually identical (though the configuration of each restaurant differs). As a favourite haunt of Monaco’s royal family, Prince Albert attended the opening in New York, and it was every bit as opulent as you can imagine. Dip in before or after a show (in either New York or Monaco) and enjoy bouillabaisse or a silken, lovely flan de parmesan wrapped in aubergine, by chef Antonio Salvatore (a S.Pellegrino Young Chef Academy Competition participant in 2016). When asked how difficult it was to source ingredients for Rampoldi in New York, Salvatore remarked, “Honestly, NYC is a very competitive city in everything... so it's easy but difficult at the same time! There are all the products needed to develop excellent dishes and menus, you just need more time and research to do better, and a lot of work!”

L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele

New York has no shortage of Neapolitan pies – or at least, pizzas that refer to themselves as Neapolitan, but with all the little adjustments made to the style to appeal to Americans (more meat toppings here, maybe a firmer dough there), perhaps we only had pies that were Neapolitan-ish. Until now. The original L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, with its joyfully irregularly shaped pies, was founded in Naples in 1870 and its Italian location is modest in contrast with the new, airy, sprawling New York iteration. But the pies? Virtually the same. The topping modifications vary – in New York, there are more pie variations, you can add anchovies to your marinara and more cheese to your margherita. Same, same, but different.

Roscioli

_{Gary He}

I challenge you to find a restaurant that opened in 2023 to more breathless anticipation than Rome’s nearly 200-year-old Roscioli, now occupying a space in the West Village. This is the venerable restaurant’s first location outside of Rome. Its ground floor serves a tasting menu of classic Roman dishes with wine pairings, and its upstairs is more casual, open to walk-ins for à la carte dining in full view of its salumeria counter. Shelves built into the walls are crammed with Italian olive oil and preserves from Roscioli’s favoured producers. Roll upstairs for a glass of wine and graze on snacks like supplì or straightforward Roman pastas – carbonara or cacio e pepe.

Caviar Kaspia at the Mark

_{Brett Wood}

Founded in Paris in 1927, Caviar Kaspia opened its first New York location this year at the Mark Hotel. Yes, its menu boasts a staggering array of glossy, glorious caviar, as well as a selection of seafood salads, tartares and carpaccios. Brought to life by French designer Jacque Grange, might you feel like you are tucking into your twice-baked potato, lobster bisque or royal salmon tartare topped with imperial baeri caviar in Paris and not Madison Avenue? Easily. You may even catch sight of a celebrity while you’re at it.

Le Relaise De Venise

Closed for two years during the pandemic, the French restaurant had previously maintained a New York City outpost that opened in 2009. And now it is back, open every day for lunch and dinner, serving its stubbornly wonderful diminutive menu of grilled steak and fries. There is a salad to start – just one – simple greens topped with a mustard vinaigrette and walnuts, then that steak frites – only steak frites. You have a multitude of options when it comes to wine and dessert, but of course, you’re here for the steak frites.