AVO TACO

"Chef Nick Lama’s sophisticated Uptown restaurant, with its gorgeous dining courtyard, pays homage to his Sicilian roots in many artful ways. Avo serves handmade pasta, beautifully composed plates of lasagna rich with short rib ragu, black squid ink mafalda, and bucatini cacio e pepe with jump lump crab. All of the food is special here, but the pasta is beyond dreamy." - Beth D'Addono, Clair Lorell

"There’s nothing Creole Italian about chef Nick Lama’s upscale Avo, which means “grandfather” or “ancestor,” in Italian. The third-generation Sicilian spotlights regional Italian cuisine and ingredients like figs, gorgonzola, Calabrian chilies, and every manner of homemade pasta. The food is gorgeous and informed by passion and allegiance to pristine ingredients. Get the meatballs, get the charred octopus, get yourself to Avo." - Beth D'Addono, Clair Lorell