100 Very Best Restaurants 2013: Graffiato

Mike Isabella, with his brash, Top Chef-branded “Jersey Mike” persona and pizza-cutter tattoo, isn’t the likeliest candidate for getting veggie-haters to eat their Brussels sprouts. But his roasted, maple-sauced beauties set atop a slick of Greek yogurt could make converts of even the most skeptical. So, too, a dish of roasted cauliflower with pecorino and mint or of beets with ricotta and orange.

Round out the array of sharable plates at this thunderously loud Italian joint in the shadow of the Verizon Center with rich pastas and heftier meat dishes. And of course, true to Isabella’s tattoo, the thin, Jersey-style pizza is really good, too. Don’t miss: Flatbread with pepperoni sauce; crispy potatoes with lemon and Parmesan; chestnut risotto with Taleggio; Jersey Shore pizza with fried calamari and cherry-pepper aïoli; chocolate panna cotta. Open: Daily for lunch and dinner. Moderate.