Much like the she-wolf (for which the restaurant is named) that nursed budding city planners Romulus and Remus to health, Lupa has nourished Greenwich Village with some of the city's best and most accessible Italian fare since opening in 1999. Owned by a veritable who's who among restaurateurs (Mario Batali, Joseph Bastianich, Jason Denton and chef/ partner Mark Ladner), Lupa overlooks busy, student-filled Thompson Street through an open storefront decorated with spruce trees. The front dining room is just as busy, with a convivial, slightly noisy atmosphere given the proximity of the bar area and the closeness of tables. A brick archway leads to the more spacious back dining room. Cured meats and small seafood bites such as melt-in-your mouth house-made speck or the sardines with cracked wheat lead the menu while primi consist of soft ricotta gnocchi and the slightly spicy bucatini all' amatriciana. Main courses include skate with clams and rabe, or the succulent, fall-apart (no knife needed) pork shoulder. Reservations suggested. Full bar. Serving lunch, dinner and late-night daily.
Where the Locals Eat Rating
Top 100 Restaurant, New York City
"Under the [original] direction of Mark Ladner, executive chef, the menu at Lupa has received rave reviews. ... In 2005, Steve Connaughton took over the helm as executive chef after four years as Mark Ladner's sous chef. We have a salumeria that serves Italian artisan meats and cheeses, house-made products such as canned tuna and guanciale, and a kitchen that is dedicated to creating and serving dishes of the freshest ingredients ... [that are] as traditionally Roman as possible."
– Lupa website
"If you're a restaurant lover and you've got a schedule flexible enough to get out for lunch, it's a meal very much worth using to visit restaurants precisely like Lupa: restaurants that require more advance planning than you might be capable of for a dinner reservation; or restaurants with a hubbub at dinner that can, depending on your mood, be a little much."
– Frank Bruni, The New York Times, Sept. 27, 2007
"Lupa is the embodiment of a hip New York restaurant for people who love to eat."
—New York magazine
"[Fans] recommend: First, a cutting board of fatty-delicious cured meats ... Move on to vegetable contorni ... Follow up with sublime pasta ... Then choose a meaty main ... By the time the panna cotta with apricot arrives, you'll be ready to become a regular, too."
—Time Out New York
"Offering the best authentic seasonal ingredients at reasonable prices ..."
—Michelin New York City
How Others Rate Lupa
The New York Times: Top Pick
New York magazine: ** (very good); Critics' Pick
Zagat: 25 food rating (very good to excellent)
Time Out New York: Critics' Pick