Bye, Bye Columbus Circle, Hello Madison Square!

"We started out twenty years ago overlooking one park. Now we'll spend another twenty years on a different park," said Tony May during a farewell luncheon yesterday. If there was any sadness in the words of the owner of restaurant San Domenico, a Central Park South institution since 1988, it was difficult to detect. Rather, the Italian entrepreneur, along with his daughter, Marisa, is viewing his eatery's move downtown, to 19 E. 26th Street, as an opportunity for reinvention. Long gone are the days, says May, when patrons of a fine dining establishment should be denied entry if they arrive for meal without a jacket and tie. "Now, we let almost anybody in—as long as they have a pair of pants," he jokes. Along with the changing dress codes since 1988 has come a relaxation of the overall dining experience, where the focus is less on fussy fashion and more on ingredients. Therein, May says, will be the mission of the new San Domenico. Indeed, the new restaurant will even have a gift shop where diners can buy some of the very same ingredients they enjoyed on their plates. We'll have to wait until at least next spring to experience it all for ourselves, but suffice it to say, the one thing that will not to change at SD26 is the trademark May hospitality—as long as you wear pants.

The Best Italian Restaurants? Fuhgeddaboutit

Zagat, compiler of the likes and dislikes of America's restaurant-goers, nightclubbers, business travelers, golf players and movie denizens, has just released "America's 1,000 Top Italian Restaurants." New Yawk being New Yawk, we've laid claim to over 150 of them—more than any other city. Not a surprise in a city filled with chefs with names like Batali and Carmellini. Among the Manhattan eateries that made the list include NewYorkInsider faves San Domenico, A Voce, Gennaro, Vice Versa (responsible for the delectable pasta dish pictured above), San Pietro and Del Posto. With 27-percent of U.S. diners citing Italian as their favorite cuisine (trailed by American, at a distant second—16-percent), we have a feeling this handy book will more than prove its weight in mortadella. For a limited time, Zagat is offering the guide for free. To claim yours, click here. What's your favorite Italian restaurant? Let us know. (And if you can't wait for your Zagat guide to arrive and want to know whether your red-checked tablecloth go-to place made the cut, drop us a line and we'll give you the scoop.)