This Classic West Village Eatery, Relocated, Is Among City's 'Best'

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Sometimes when things don't change, that's the "best."

The New York Times' food critic Pete Wells compiled his 12 top picks for the city's best new restaurants of 2023 and a West Village favorite made the list.

"Moving a hit restaurant to a new address is notoriously hard to do," Wells writes about longtime neighborhood restaurateur Rita Sodi's relocation of her hit namesake, I Sodi, which he placed at number eight on the list.

But, Wells said, she's made the transfer, from its former tiny spot on Christopher Street to a larger corner space on Bleecker and Grove streets, "seamless," and "could write a book on getting it right."

In his original review, Wells gleefully wrote that "the new I Sodi takes pains to reassure customers that very little has changed except the address," a emphasis that he carries over in his year-end roundup.

"The new I Sodi keeps the original’s stripped-to-essentials feel, even though it’s much bigger, with two dining rooms and a back garden," Wells writes, adding that the entire menu was "transported intact from the first location."

The longtime critic highlights the fried artichokes, pappardelle al limone, grilled cornish hen and the toasted hazelnut semifreddo.

"Most of the cooking is drawn from Ms. Sodi’s Tuscan upbringing," Wells writes. "All of it is sublimely sure of itself."

To check out the entire New York’s 12 Best New Restaurants of 2023 by New York Times food critic Pete Wells, click here.