$20 for $50 Worth of Italian Food and Drinks at Lusso

Jump to: Details | Reviews

Dreams are open to interpretation. A dream about falling could mean either:

a) You are afraid of falling.
b) You are in love with falling.

A dream about badgers might mean:

a) Victory over your opponents.
b) The library wants its C.S. Lewis book back.

But a dream where a contemporary Italian restaurant offers finely executed dishes in an eye-opening room is not a dream at all. It is an honest, vivid, mind-bending reality. Lusso, which could be interpreted as either luxury or dream, is a bit of both. It's what accounts for about half the self-pinching you've seen lately in SoHo. The other half is inexplicable.

Details

If Johnny Knoxville thinks it's good, you know it's a good Groupon. Today's deal is $20 for a $50 meal at Lusso, the chic Italian eatery in SoHo. The restaurant, which offers "clean, regional, contemporary Italian," hosted Knoxville and his pals who worked on The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia when the film debuted at Tribeca this year.

Knoxville must be a classy guy when he's not paper cutting himself between his toes. Maybe he came to Lusso for the extensive Italian beer selection. Maybe he came for the coffee, which is custom-blended by D’Amico in Brooklyn (Lusso offers brunch, solo lunch at the bar, and dinner). He could have come for the famous gnocchi (potato dumpling, pancetta, peas and hedgehog mushrooms) or the crispy pancetta in the spaghetti carbonara on Lusso's menu. The chef, Bruce Dillon, apprenticed under culinary mastermind Alex Ureña, first at Marseille and later at Suba.

Of course, Knoxville might have just wanted to kick back on the glossy furniture in front of Lusso's bare brick walls, since the high ceilings and warm lighting of the newly renovated space make the perfect spot for Knoxville to staple things to his body.

Reviews

New York wrote up Lusso when it opened this winter. Metromix's critic liked the spins on classic food and Metromix users did too. Ten Yelpers gave Lusso an average of four stars, and eight Citysearchers give it 4.5. Lusso isn't Zagat rated yet, but six Zagat users gave it glowing reviews. People on Urbanspoon like it too. There's just so much love:

• An Alex Urena protégé is manning the burners at this slick Soho Italian spot, plating up contemporary spins on the same-old, same-old red-sauce formula. The no-fuss, closely edited menu—there aren't more than six items per section—showcases some interesting twists: Blackberries infuse a rabbit pappardelle, lasagna is made with lamb bolognese, and roasted pear perks up a walnut-and-gorgonzola risotto. "I wanted to go with clean, regional, contemporary Italian," says chef Bruce Dillon, who apprenticed under Urena, first at Marsielle and then at Suba. With Aurora being around the corner with their rustic menu, I wanted to do something more straightforward so that [everything] reads very simple, on the menu and on the plate." – Metromix
• First-time owner Michael Carpinillo spent a year and a half doing a gut renovation of the old Le Streghe space on West Broadway (lucky for him, his family works in construction)... Carpinillo says some of the dishes aren’t Italian so much as Italian-inspired: “The rigatoni is kind of like what Italian families would eat on Sunday, but he covers it with fonduta.” – New York
• Great location, beautiful interior, terrific food. A must try if you are in the SOHO vicinity or definitely worth the cab fare from uptown. Book a reservation now because once the word gets out about this gem, getting a table with be near impossible to get (only about 20 tables). – JACKTHECAT, New York reader
• This place really wowed me... The service was courteous and efficient, but they let us linger over our drinks. – Emma B., Yelp
• From the greeting at the door to dessert, everything was perfect. Warm & inviting with amazing food--Italian with a new culinary twist. The perfect balance of flavors. Kudos to the chef! I can't wait to go back for more. – Kim, Urbanspoon