Spaghetti and meatballs is New York red-sauce Italian-American: long spaghetti coated in a long-simmered tomato sauce, topped with two large pork-and-beef meatballs and a snow of Parmesan.
Spaghetti and meatballs is an Italian-American invention codified in New York's Little Italy by southern Italian immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (Italy itself never plated it; it is a New World creation). The cheap-protein meatball plate became the staple of red-sauce restaurants across Manhattan and Brooklyn (Rao's in East Harlem, founded 1896; Patsy's in Midtown; Frankies 457 Spuntino in Carroll Gardens). Carbone in Greenwich Village (opened 2013) repositioned it as a fine-dining set piece with $30 meatballs and a tableside ricotta finish. Via Carota plates a refined Tuscan-leaning version. The canonical New York Italian-American comfort plate.
3 editor picks for Spaghetti and meatballs in New York City, ranked by editorial score. All New York City signature dishes · Spaghetti and meatballs across every city.
Via Carota ★ 4.6
west-village · 51 Grove Street, New York, NY 10014
Jody Williams and Rita Sodi's Grove Street West Village room serves Tuscan-leaning food in New York City. Priced at $$$. Kitchen leans italian.
Carbone ★ 4.5
greenwich-village · 181 Thompson Street, New York, NY 10012
Major Food Group's red-sauce Italian-American room on Thompson Street in New York City turns 1950s tableside service into theatre. Priced at $$$$.
Frankies 457 Spuntino ★ 4.3
carroll-gardens · 457 Court Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231
The two Franks have served Brooklyn-Italian on Court Street in New York City since 2004: handmade pastas, escarole salad, sausage cavatelli in a garden out.