2006 100 Very Best Restaurants

THE SCENE. In a small dining room tucked in back of Galileo, Roberto Donna conducts one of the most intimate culinary experiences in the city. His open kitchen is really a stage--a mirror hangs across the ceiling so diners can watch Donna and his crew juggle pans and plates. Donna is especially fun to watch--one second he's dressing down his cooks in barking Italian, the next he's dotting sauce on a plate with the gentle precision of a painter--but the food steals the show.

WHAT YOU'LL LOVE. Fourteen courses of unbridled lustiness. Diets be damned, this extravaganza of foie gras, butter, black and white truffles, and Italian cheeses is simple, indulgent, and totally transportive.

WHAT YOU WON'T. Donna's decadence teeters on the edge of too-muchness: an oozy fried egg with fontina cheese followed by foie gras with porcinis, chestnut soup with pancetta, and three pasta courses. And that was just the first half on a recent night. On the flip side, Donna's lighter dishes--say, a cube of black cod perched on a squared potato--lack enthusiasm.