Il Leone opened at 158 Seventh Avenue near Garfield Place on Friday, November 14, with Ben Wexler-Waite returning to lead the kitchen. The menu centers on Neapolitan-style pizzas and antipasti such as crispy pan-fried artichokes, saucy meatballs, and burrata with prosciutto di Parma. Ingredient sourcing is emphasized, highlighted by the Margherita Del Leone with greenhouse-grown cherry tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala from Campania, and live basil at the prep station. The signature Isola lobster pie uses Maine lobster over hand-milled San Marzano sauce and a drizzle of Italian rosé. The wine list focuses on Campania producers at accessible price points, and cocktails use Italian spirits.
"Wexler-Waite's zealous devotion to ingredient sourcing is most on display in the Margherita Del Leone ($24), with a sauce made from greenhouse-grown cherry tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala from Campania, and organic basil snipped from a live plant right above his prep station. Do not miss the Isola: Il Leone's famous, photogenic lobster pie (MP). The lobster comes from Maine, of course, and is strewn over hand-milled San Marzano tomato sauce and a drizzle of Italian rosé by the fistful."
"The wine list is refreshingly accessible, with bottles landing in the $50s and $60s with a few pricier outliers, and glass pours hovering around $15. The Aglianico ($18) tasted like briny black olives - a great pair with the Calabrian salami pie ($22), or the one with pecorino and locally-foraged mushrooms ($24). And the cocktails all use Italian spirits, like the martini with either Malfy gin or Vérita vodka."
Read at Eater NY
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