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Why Il Buco Is on Our Top 50 Italian Outside Italy
Il Buco, under Donna Lennard's direction, is ranked #41 on our Top 50 Italian Restaurants Outside Italy. The regional Italian register: Tuscan and Umbrian (Central Italian lineage).
The pasta-making method: Hand-rolled, fresh, daily. The signature dish: Bistecca alla Fiorentina, fresh pici with ragu, suckling pig.
The wine program: Italian-only; Tuscany, Umbria, Sicily verticals.
The chef pedigree: NoHo institution since 1994; James Beard nominee. The family lineage: Lennard's Tuscan-Umbrian sourcing tradition; Donna Lennard founder.
How to Book Il Buco
The booking lead time: 6 to 10 weeks for prime time. Reserve through OpenTable, Resy, or the restaurant's own booking portal where applicable; many of the best Italian restaurants outside Italy require dedicated concierge or hotel-based bookings during peak season.
Order the regional pasta. The kitchen's strongest expression at Il Buco is the Pici al ragu di Chianina, paired with a producer from the chef's training region.
The dress code: Smart casual. The dinner spend: 150 to 240 USD per person at dinner. The kitchen at Il Buco is rated 9/10 for food and 10/10 for ambience in our editorial scoring.
Why Il Buco Is Worth the Pilgrimage
"Donna Lennard's NoHo institution since 1994. The Tuscan-Umbrian-research dining room with the open-kitchen pass and the most consistently Italian wine program in downtown New York."
Our editorial scoring places the food at 9/10, ambience at 10/10, and value at 8/10. The Tuscan and Umbrian (Central Italian lineage) register is structural; the chef lineage and the kitchen's calibration produce the dinner that rewards the booking effort.
View Il Buco on Restaurants for Kings →
Related Reading
- Top 50 Italian Restaurants Outside Italy. The full editorial ranking, of which Il Buco is #41.
- Browse all 21 Top 50 Rankings · Top 50 Anniversary Dinners · Top 50 Historic Building Restaurants
- New York restaurant guide. The full city directory with all occasions.
- Carbone. Our deep dive on the closest Italian peer in the city.
- Marea. Our deep dive on the closest Italian peer in the city.