"Chef Gio Osso has opened three restaurants over the past decade, but tiny, upscale Virtu, tucked away in the Bespoke Inn, remains the mothership as well as the stage for Osso’s elegant, showy spin on modern Italian. Since the pandemic, the restaurant has moved to a three-course prix fixe menu, which changes often (sometimes daily), but two dishes that seldom, if ever, leave are Osso’s famously tender octopus, laved in Calabrian chile butter, and his thoroughly decadent asparagus, served with an oozy duck egg, bacon candy, feta crumbles, and foie gras hollandaise. Main courses — seared tuna, smoked duck, grilled lamb chops, and the like — are every bit as enticing. Be sure to have an after-dinner amaro from the city’s best selection, and ask for a table on the lush, tiered patio." - Mcconnell Quinn, Nikki Buchanan
