NYC Italian Eats: Enotecas

'ino and 'inoteca

A clever play on language evoking delicious things both on bread and in wine, the original, tiny Bedford Street location of 'ino is as crowded as ever. Though ‘ino is no larger than a studio apartment, a few dishes, like the truffled egg on toast, are the stuff of legend. When 'ino begat inoteca on the Lower East Side (pictured), the wine gained prominence. Here, beautiful people come to survey the scene while drinking from one of the over 600 hundred bottles in the cellar. In 2008, owners Jason and Joe Denton expanded their enoteca takeover to Murray Hill with the opening of upscale eatery Bar Milano, only to reinvent it less than a year later into—you guessed it!—a second outpost of the way-cheaper 'inoteca.

‘ino
21 Bedford St. between Sixth Ave. and Downing St.
212-989-5769

‘inoteca
98 Rivington St. at Ludlow St.
212-614-0473

'inoteca liquori bar
323 Third Ave. at 24th St.
212-683-3035