New York City is seeing a new kind of Italian restaurant | Official Website of Louis Velazquez, entrepreneur, finance guy and tech innovator

For many decades, New York City has been associated with a type of Italian cuisine unheard of in Italy.

Known as the “red-sauce joint,” this type of restaurant originating in Little Italy served hearty dishes that Italian immigrants created with ingredients available to them after immigration during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

These include chicken parmesan, baked ziti, and the classic spaghetti and meatballs that are eaten exclusively as two separate dishes in Italy.

But as Americans’ appetite for Italian food stayed strong across the decades, the city’s restaurant scene has begun welcoming much more specialized restaurants. They offer cuisine from every corner of Italy, as ease of travel and access to global ingredients have improved dramatically.

Since the early 2000s, new regional restaurants, such as the Northern Italian restaurant Supper and the Tuscan eatery I Sodi in the East Village, have carved out a storied place in New York’s Italian food scene, alongside the red-sauce joints and longstanding fine-dining classics like Delmonico’s.

As customers seek regional fare, new Italian restaurant opens on Upper East Side

Diners have become pickier and are increasingly looking to experience something new: whether it’s cuisine from a region of Italy they haven’t heard of, or the menu of a trendy local chef whose cooking would normally not be available without a plane ticket.

The latest regional Italian restaurant to open in New York’s Upper East Side is San Babila. Opening its doors to diners in September 2025, the brainchild of Calabrian chef Francesco Lamanna doubles as a coffee shop.

It serves artisanal Italian pastries and specialty lattes by day, while a restaurant behind the coffee counter offers a curated menu of Southern Italian dishes and craft cocktails with an Italian twist in a stylish atmosphere.

Classics range from Rigatoni all’Aragosta (a lobster pasta commonly served at weddings in coastal Italy) and Fritto Misto (a combination of fried battered seafood, the exact ingredients of which vary depending on the specific region) to Lamanna’s creations, like octopus with almonds and carrot puree and Truffle Potato Cacio e Pepe (a gnocchi version of the classic pasta dish).

San Babila opened on New York’s Upper East Side in September 2025.

Alex Staniloff

Inspired by a saint’s journey through Italy, San Babila serves regional dishes with a twist

Lamanna is the name behind restaurants like Il Conte di Melissa in Calbaria and the opening of Eataly in Milan. The chef’s history in the kitchen dates back to being born in one during a wedding, as his mother was running around trying to bring out food for guests.

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The restaurant, in turn, is inspired by the journey that San Babila the Bishop undertook from Turkey through Calabria and to Milan in the third century.

The menu is also inspired by the regions that the bishop, who would later be canonized, would see along the way, as well as the idea of “journeying” through Italy with one’s palate.

The restaurant has 16 tables and a six-seat coffee counter that transforms into a bar at night. Its popularity in the month that it’s been open has proven that, in a city known for its Italian food, there is always room for newcomers.