Jonathan Waxman's Barbuto In West Village | Tasting Table NYC

Last month, Tasting Table asked readers for their favorite neighborhood gems. Now we're introducing the winning picks.

In Italian, barbuto means bearded.

Chef-owner Jonathan Waxman picked the word to describe the trio behind the place–himself, business partner Fabrizio Ferri and Ferri's Irish wolfhound, Gideon.

Waitress Sasha with the famed chicken | Potatoes with pecorino and rosemary
In the West Village, the name is synonymous with roast chicken, roll-up glass-paneled walls and a loyal following that, as Waxman describes it, includes "locals, models, tourists, business types, families with raucous children, single diners, young, old and in-between."

In other words: Everyone loves the place. Being a class act comes with the territory.

Brussels sprouts, colatura and hazelnuts | Inside the restaurant
"Barbuto is located in the corner of an old garage built to sell Rolls Royce automobiles in 1939," Waxman says.

Approaching its tenth anniversary, the place is still fun, gutsy and seasonally spontaneous. It's hard to think of an occasion that wouldn't be greatly improved by an order of the restaurant's pizza bianca with a scattering of arugula and chiles, a salad of paper-thin raw Brussels sprouts and the justly famous JW chicken with salsa verde.

Pizza with freshly shaved cheese | Poster of Jonathan Waxman
The chairs are mismatched. The unadorned mahogany tables look like scratched-up relics from a New England boarding school. And the whole place just works. Barbuto is, like Waxman himself, a true New York original.

Our other favorite West Village Neighborhood Gems: Dell'anima, Café Cluny, Joseph Leonard and Buvette.