Pepolino

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Name Rooted in Tuscany

"Pepolino" is the Italian word for a variety of thyme that grows wild across the Tuscan hills. Chefs Patrizio Siddu and Enzo Pezone chose it deliberately — they wanted the name to reflect how they cook: with herbs, with intention, and with no shortcuts. That philosophy has guided this TriBeCa restaurant since the day it opened, and it earned Pepolino recognition in the Gambero Rosso guide, Italy's most authoritative voice on Italian cuisine worldwide.

Two Chefs, One Kitchen, Deep Roots

Patrizio Siddu was born in Florence and cut his teeth at Cibreo, one of the city's most celebrated restaurants, working under the legendary Fabio Picchi. He later cooked at the Michelin one-star Cantina Barbagianni before making New York his home in 1995. Enzo Pezone grew up in Parete, Italy, moved to Florence at fifteen to study the culinary arts, and then spent fourteen years at Cibreo under Picchi and Benedetta Vitali. Both chefs crossed the Atlantic with the same ambition: to open a restaurant that answered to Tuscany, not to trends.

What Lands on the Table

The menu is a faithful map of Tuscan cooking. Handmade pastas are the heart of it — pappardelle tossed in a fresh thyme-infused tomato sauce (the dish the restaurant is named for), wild boar ragout on wide ribbons of homemade pasta, spinach-and-ricotta gnudi in brown butter and sage, and black linguine with mixed seafood and a spicy tomato sauce. Starters range from a Pappa al Pomodoro — the Tuscan tomato bread soup with basil and extra virgin olive oil — to seared octopus over white bean purée, and a beef carpaccio finished with black truffle and Padano. Among the secondi, roasted branzino with rosemary and sautéed vegetables holds its own alongside a sliced striploin with crispy garlic, rosemary, and arugula. Reviewers have singled out the homemade ricotta cheesecake as the right way to finish.

The Room and the Feel

Pepolino occupies a compact, intimate space on West Broadway in TriBeCa. The atmosphere is unhurried and attentive — the kind of place where regulars return not because it surprises them, but because it never disappoints. Outdoor seating is available, and the restaurant accommodates private parties. It is, as more than one critic has put it, a Tuscan trattoria that earns the word "authentic" without having to say it.