Carbonara consists of pasta, eggs, guanciale (pork cheek), Pecorino Romano cheese, and crushed black pepper. Or does it?
At the Olive Garden in Times Square (and the 955 other locations), you can feast on something called “carbonara” that consists of spaghetti tossed with chicken and shrimp in a thick cream sauce laden with bacon and red pepper.
Depending on who you ask, this iconic Roman pasta dish either originated with 19th-century shepherds in the Roman countryside or in post-World War II Rome where an ingenious local chef blended US army rations of powdered eggs and bacon with cheese and pasta and created carbonara.
Whatever the case, the recipe for carbonara first appeared—curiously enough—in a 1952 cookbook for an Italian-American restaurant in Chicago. Two years later, another version of it was published in the Italian magazine, La Cucina Italiana. The latter recipe included gruyere cheese, garlic, and pancetta. As time went on, heavy cream, peas, and bacon snuck into various recipes.
That is, until the 1990s, when chefs in Italy looked to make carbonara more Italian and more rustic. And thus, the codified recipe for carbonara was born: egg, Pecorino cheese, guanciale, black pepper, and only spaghetti or rigatoni. Deviation from this became tantamount to a culinary war crime.
With that in mind, here are the nine best versions of that now-classic carbonara in New York City.
Antica Pesa
This Williamsburg restaurant has, perhaps, the most Roman cred in New York City. Antica Pesa is an outlet of the original in Rome which has been whipping up great pasta dishes in the Trastevere neighborhood since 1922.
The Brooklyn locale opened in 2012 and has a classic Roman menu. Including, of course, a very good version of carbonara, which is only available on Sundays at dinner. The recipe tosses out the egg whites and fears of cholesterol to the wind, keeping just the yolks, so it has a richer taste than you might find elsewhere. 115 Berry St. Williamsburg, Brooklyn, anticapesa.com
Charlie Bird
Served only for lunch and brunch, chef Ryan Hardy’s version of carbonara is one of the best you can find on this side of the Atlantic: spaghetti, ultra-crispy house-cured guanciale, Pecorino cheese, and two types of toasted pepper. In fact, chef Hardy uses two different cheeses, Pecorino Romano and Pecorino Toscano, one for its saltiness and one for its sweetness, thus deepening the flavor strata. And with that, Hardy creates an edible masterpiece all set to a dining room soundtrack of hiphop. 5 King St., SoHo, charliebirdnyc.com
Camillo
Located in the Prospect Lefferts Gardens area of Flatbush, Brooklyn, Camillo is a relatively off-the-radar Roman restaurant. It’s more affordable than its Manhattan brethren and just as good, if not better. Particularly the classic Roman carbonara made here. Using tonarelli pasta (also known as chitarra), the creamy sauce does not deviate from the classic ingredients: crispy nuggets of guanciale, Pecorino Romano cheese, egg yolks, and ground black pepper. 1146 Nostrand Ave., Flatbush, Brooklyn, camillobk.com
Park Rose
Not all carbonaras have to obey by the traditional rules set a few decades ago, as long as the version is delicious. Case in point, Park Rose, which opened in fall 2025. Here executive chef Carsten Johannsen makes honeynut squash ravioli and then bathes them in a carbonara sauce (egg yolks, pecorino, pepper, and cured guanciale) and then sprinkles a bit of sage on top. It’s certainly not for the orthodox carbonara lover, but it’s certain to please the palate. 444 Park Ave. S., Murray Hill, parkrosenyc.com
Roscioli
Since 1972, Roscioli has been a beloved spot in central Rome for its near-perfect takes on Roman classics, including carbonara. In summer 2023, the family-run spot fired up its pasta-boiling burners in SoHo and carbonara-loving diners in all five boroughs reached for their forks.
The carbonara at Rioscioli, both in Eternal City and the Big Apple, often rank at the top of every list for the best carbonara. Chefs here cook the guanciale and then add some of the rendered liquid fat to the egg, pepper, and Pecorino cheese mixture. Rioscioli doesn’t just use black pepper, but has its own blend: Sarawak black pepper, Muntok white pepper, and Kompot red pepper, giving wonderfully aromatic sense to the dish. 43 MacDougal St., SoHo, rosciolinyc.com
Rosemary’s
Anchored on the corner of Greenwich Avenue and West 10th Street in the West Village, Rosemary’s makes a very good, if slightly different carbonara. The pasta is chitarra, a square-shaped sibling of spaghetti from Abruzzo. The chefs here also add in some sautéed scallions to create a bonus flavor bomb to the whole dish. Bonus, diners can enjoy the same dish at the other two locations in Midtown and Stuyvesant Town. 18 Greenwich Ave. West Village, rosemarysnyc.com
Sake No Hana
This Japanese restaurant on the Bowery makes a memorable reinterpretation of carbonara. The thick udon noodles are intertwined with a poached egg and uni and then finished with smoked butter and sprinkled with shaved truffles. If you really want to go wild, you can upgrade the dish to include A5 wagyu. 145 Bowery, Lower East Side, taogroup.com
Sulumeria Rosi
If you want to eat the excellent version of carbonara at the 50-seat East Village location of Salumeria Rosi, you’re going to have to time it properly. The restaurant’s Rigatoni all Carbonara is only available on Thursday evenings. But it’s worth the wait.
Here the chef includes Pecorino Romano and Parmigiana Reggiano, in addition to egg yolks, black peppercorns, and crispy guanciale. If you’re there for weekend brunch and feel like going carbonara crazy, you can tuck into a plate of Uova Strapazzate alla Carbonara—scrampled eggs sprinkled with crunchy guanciale and splashed with Pecorino Romano. 222 Ave. B, East Village, salumeriarosinyc.com
Tolo
This excellent Chinatown restaurant has boldly dipped its toes into the rough, brackish waters of carbonara. The Lap Cheong Carbonara began as a family meal for the staff before the dinner shift. Then it became a much-whispered off-menu item. The Chinese-Italian mash-up became so popular that it’s now on the menu. The thick egg noodles, twirled around Chinese sausage and Sichuan peppercorns, are sprinkled with Parmigiano.
It’s not “authentic” and it’s not meant to be, and we can already see the “carbonara police” getting ready to issue a warrant. But it is a great version to tuck into if you want something with a vaguely similar flavor profile but different. 28 Canal St. Chinatown, tolonyc.com
