Bar Pitti

Giovanni Tognozzi was born about forty kilometres from Florence, in Monsummano Terme, moved to New York in 1987, waited tables, and in 1992 opened the small trattoria he had promised himself. 'Not fancy or high level,' he told Grub Street at thirty years. Bar Pitti has been on Sixth Avenue ever since, with simple Tuscan food and a sidewalk that is often full of famous people trying not to look at each other.

The cooking comes from his mother: the polpettine, small veal meatballs, and the lasagna. He grew up on bollito misto and roast chicken, and the menu still reads like that, with spaghetti with lobster 'at the right price', linguine with clams and tortellini al sugo. The specials are written up by hand.

That is the whole booking policy, and it is one of the reasons the regulars love it: you cannot buy your way to the front.

It does not take reservations, and it takes cash. That is the whole booking policy, and it is one of the reasons the regulars love it: you cannot buy your way to the front. Tognozzi's favourite thing about the place is watching couples who dated there come back with their children.

Go for a late lunch on a warm afternoon and take an outside table. It is a good piece of street theatre, and the pasta is better than it needs to be.

Text to ask.