Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant: An Italian Cookbook

by Jody Williams, Rita Sodi, Anna Kovel

Overview

A BON APPETIT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • The much-anticipated cookbook from “New York’s Most Perfect Restaurant” (The New Yorker), featuring impossibly flavorful, vegetable-centric Italian dishes, from Fresh Pasta Squares with Fava Pesto to Meyer Lemon Risotto.

"Via Carota is one of my very favorite restaurants in New York City, and this cookbook perfectly captures its magic: simple, seasonal, organic, local, and profoundly delicious, these are recipes that I want to eat all the time." —Alice Waters

James Beard Award-winning chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi share the secrets of their beloved restaurant, which has become synonymous with New York City’s Greenwich Village. Since 2014, Via Carota has been a destination for food lovers, celebrities, and well-informed travelers because of its impeccable Italian fare. Emphasizing vegetables and seasonal cooking, the dishes that come out of Williams and Sodi’s kitchen are astonishing in their simplicity yet dazzling in their elegance. Now, with this beautiful, deeply personal cookbook, they share the keys to cooking Via Carota’s traditional (but not too traditional) cuisine at home.

Here are more than 140 recipes, including:

• Lasagna Cacio e Pepe

• Roasted Carrots with Spiced Yogurt and Pistachios

• Tuscan Onion Soup

• Potato Gnocchi

• Sweet Ricotta Cake

• and more!

Here, too, is the restaurant’s signature Insalata Verde—that celebrate the bounty of every time of the year, highlighting the very best uses for the most delicious seasonal produce, from spring peas to summer squashes, autumnal legumes to winter citrus.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780525658573
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/11/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	79,108
Product dimensions:	9.90(w) x 7.00(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

JODY WILLIAMS is the chef and owner of the much-acclaimed Buvette in the West Village and co-chef/owner with Rita Sodi of Via Carota, an Italian gastroteca the couple opened in 2014, and Commerce Inn, a shaker inspired West Village tavern and cookery opened in 2022. Williams is also the author of Buvette: The Pleasure of Good Food. RITA SODI is chef and owner of the ever-popular I Sodi and co-chef/owner with Jody Williams of Via Carota, the gastroteca that is inspired by her seventeeth-century country house in the hills near Florence, and Commerce Inn.

Read an Excerpt

MASTER THE NEGRONI

Everyone should learn to master a spritz and a negroni. A few essential bottles like Campari, Aperol, Cocchi Americano Bianco, gin, red vermouth, and prosecco, and a mixing glass with a bartender’s long-handled spoon, are all you need. (Use Cynar instead of Campari if you are in an earthy mood.) Jody prefers vermouth, specifically Vergano Bianco, with soda and a double lemon twist, but I am a negroni fan. I have made many variations on this classic; at I Sodi, we have had a lengthy and unique negroni list for more than ten years. Stir the negroni in a mixing glass with ice. Then pour your chilled drink into a glass with ice. Squeeze an orange peel over the negroni before dropping it in. Enjoy. Rita

Negroni Classico
This is by far the most popular drink at our bar.

Makes 2
3 ounces/90 ml Beefeater gin
3 ounces Antica Formula vermouth
3 ounces/90 ml Campari
2 orange wedges

Stir the gin, vermouth, and Campari with ice in a tumbler or mixing glass. Strain into chilled rocks glasses filled with large ice cubes. Drop an orange wedge into each glass.

Olive all’Ascolana
Fried Sausage-Stuffed Green Olives

We transform the traditional sausage-stuffed olives by also adding a layer of sausage on the outside, almost like a tiny Scotch egg. This makes them a substantial snack, or spuntino. It’s great to have some ready in the freezer for an aperitivo (if frozen, defrost them in the refrigerator before frying).

Makes about 48
8 sweet Italian sausages (1 ½ pounds/680 grams)
4 large eggs
½ cup (1.5 ounce/50 grams) finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano+ more for serving
½ cup (1.5 ounce/50 grams) finely grated pecorino Romano
1 cup/240 ml whole milk
3 cups (300 grams) plain breadcrumbs (or torn white bread)
1 pound/454 grams pitted, large green olives in brine, such as ascolana all-purpose flour, as needed safflower oil for frying, about 3 cups/720 ml extra-virgin olive oil for frying, about 3 cups/720 ml

Slice the sausages open lengthwise and remove the meat from the casings. Crumble it into a large bowl. Lightly beat 1 egg and add to the sausage, then stir in the parmigiano and pecorino. In a separate bowl, pour the milk into 1 cup/100 grams of breadcrumbs and let sit until the breadcrumbs have absorbed all the milk. Squeeze out any excess milk and add the soft breadcrumbs to the sausage. Mix thoroughly with your hands.
 
Drain the pitted olives from their brine, rinse thoroughly, and pat them dry. For each olive, take a small pinch of filling and stuff it inside the cavity. Use a spoonful of the mixture to coat the olive, pressing the olive in the palm of your hand to completely encase it in sausage. When all the olives are filled and coated, you can refrigerate them up to 1 day before breading and frying them.
 
Set up three bowls for breading: Pour flour into one bowl, the remaining 3 eggs, lightly beaten, into another, and the remaining breadcrumbs into a third bowl. Working in batches of about 8 olives, roll each olive lightly in the flour, then eggs, and then in breadcrumbs, pressing so they adhere. At this point the olives can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for 1 month—bring to room temperature before frying.
 
For frying: Combine both oils in a deep, heavy pot until 3 to 4 inches/7.5 to 10 cm deep and set over high heat. Test the oil to see if it’s ready; if you drop a breadcrumb into the pot it should sizzle and float the moment it hits the oil. A candy/deep-fry thermometer clipped on the side of the pot should read 350oF/175oC. While the oil is heating up, line a sheet pan with a few layers of paper towel and set it next to the stove.
 
Fry the breaded olives in batches, turning until golden brown all over, 3 to 4 minutes. Lift them out of the oil and drain briefly on the paper towels. Dust with parmigiano just before serving.

Table of Contents

Introduction xv

Cooking with This Book xxi

1 Spring

Favas

Baccelli E Pecorino Young fava, radishes, and fresh pecorino 5

Insalata Di Fave Favas, escarole, and mint 8

Scafata Braised favas, peas, and escarole 9

Stracci Con Pesto Di Fave Fresh pasta squares with fava pesto 11

Artichokes

Carciofi Crudi Shaved raw artichokes, avocado, and basil 17

Carciofi Alla Griglia Grilled artichokes with aioli 19

Carciofi Fritti Fried artichokes 20

Carciofi Alla Romana Braised artichokes 21

Greens

Insalata Verde Leafy greens with Via Carota vinaigrette 24

Spinaci Saltati Sautéed spinach 26

Scarola E Sarde Alla Griglia Grilled sardines and escarole 27

Erbazzone Savory Swiss chard tart 28

Asparagus

Asparagi Alla Fiorentina Green asparagus and poached eggs

Carpaccio Di Asparagi Bianchi Shaved raw white asparagus with aged balsamic 32

Eggs

Frittata D'Ortica Frittata with nettles and ricotta 36

Tortino Di Carciofi Egg nest with artichokes 39

Stracciatella Chicken soup with egg clouds 43

Lamb

Agnello in Gremolata Braised lamb shoulder with lemon zest 45

Cosciotto Di Agnello Al Forno Roast leg of lamb with new potatoes 47

Bamps and Garlic Scapes

Ramps Ramps with pancetta and polenta 50

Scapi Di Aglio Con Fagioli Garlic scapes with lima beans 53

Peas

Panini Con Piselli Little sandwiches of peas, mascarpone, and prosciutto cotto 57

Insalata Di Piselli Leafy greens, sweet peas, and prosciutto 59

Risi E Bisi Rice and peas 60

Carrots and Beets

Carote Roasted carrots, spiced yogurt, and pistachios 65

Barbabietole Alla Scapece Beets marinated in vinegar and mint 69

Rhubarb and Strawberries

Bevanda Di Fragole E Rabarbaro Strawberry-rhubarb spritz 73

Conserva Di Rabarbaro Rhubarb compote 74

Torta Di Ricotta Sweet ricotta cake 76

Fragole E Zabaione Strawberries and sabayon 79

2 Summer

Tomatoes

Insalata Di Pomodori Summer heirloom tomato salad 85

Pomodori Verdi Con Bottarga Marinated green tomatoes with bottarga 86

Panzanella Tomato bread salad 89

Cucumbers and Melons

Bevanda Al Cetriolo Cucumber spritz 93

Ostriche Chilled oysters with cucumber mignonette 95

Insalata Di Cocomero Watermelon, red onions, and mint 100

Seafood

Insalata Frutti Di Mare Chilled seafood with salsa verde 104

Spaghetti All'Aragosta Lobster, spaghetti, and cherry tomatoes 109

Summer Squashes

Carpaccio Di Zucchine Shaved raw zucchini, parmigiano, and mint 114

Fiori Di Zucca Zucchini flowers filled with ricotta 115

Zucchine Fritte Fried zucchini 119

Eggplant

Caponata Eggplant, pine nuts, currants, and capers

Basil

Pesto Genovese Classic basil pesto 127

Trofie Al Pesto Hand-rolled pasta twists with basil pesto 129

Trofie Hand-rolled pasta twists 130

Minestrone Alla Genovese Summer soup with basil pesto 133

Summer Beans

Fagiolini Verdi Con Pesto Green beans with basil pesto 135

Fagiolini Gialli Braised yellow wax beans 137

Fagioli E Tonno Cannellini and tuna 138

Cannellini Tuscan beans 140

Summer Fruits

Fichi Smashed figs with sesame and honey 142

Macedonia Fresh fruit salad 143

Pesche Al Forno Roasted peaches in amaretto 144

3 Grilling

Verdure Alla Griglia Grilled vegetables 148

Grigliato Misto Di Pesce Grilled seafood 152

Pollo Alla Griglia Grilled chicken in salmoriglio 157

Rosticiana Alla Griglia Grilled pork ribs with black plums 159

4 Aperitivi

Negroni Classico 167

Negroni Bianco 167

Sbagliato 168

Salatini

Arancini Bice fritters with 'nduja 171

Olive All'Ascolana Fried sausage-stuffed green olives 174

Coccoli Fried bread with prosciutto 176

Schiacciata All'Olio Olive oil foccacia 177

La Madre Sourdough starter 181

Little Sandwiches

Tramezzini Al Tonno Little sandwiches with tuna, capers, and olives 184

Tramezzini Di Pollo Little sandwiches with chicken, walnuts, and currants 185

Tramezzini All'Uovo Little sandwiches with curried egg salad 186

5 Autumn Mushrooms

Mushrooms

Sottobosco Shaved porting walnuts, and dried blueberries 192

Funghi Alla Griglia Grilled maitake mushrooms with smoked scamorza cheese 194

Squash

Zucca in Agrodolce Squash marinated with onions and currants 196

Risotto Zucca E Radicchio Squash risotto with radicchio 198

Cabbages

Insalata Di Cavoletti Brussels sprouts salad with walnuts and apples 203

Cavolo E Farro Green cabbage and toasted farm with speck 204

Leeks and Onions

Porri Al Cenere Charred leeks with sheep's milk cheese 209

Carabaccia Onion and bread soup 213

Tortelli Di Ricotta Affumicata Smoked ricotta tortelli with red onions 214

Legumes and Beans

Farro E Borlotti Spelt, cranberry beans, and smoked pancetta 222

Borlotti Cranberry beans 224

Lenticchie Con Cavolo Nero Braised lentils and kale 225

Ceci In Zimino Chickpeas and Swiss chard 226

Ceci Chickpeas 227

Fagioli All'Uccelletto Cannellini with sage, tomato, and sausage 229

The Farmyard

Coniglio Fritto Fried rabbit 231

Cibreo Chopped chicken livers 234

Pici All'Anatra Hand-rolled spaghetti with duck ragù 236

Pici Hand-rolled spaghetti 238

Braciole Al Latte Pork chops cooked in milk 240

Rigatina Con Cipolline Roasted pork belly with little onions 243

Olive Oil

Pinzimonio Crudités and first-pressed olive oil 246

Torta All'Olio Olive oil cake 249

Panna Cotta All'Olio Olive oil panna cotta 251

Fruit and Nuts

Pere Al Vino Rosso Bosc pears roasted in red wine 254

Crostata Di Lamponi Raspberry jam tart 255

Crostata Di Mandorle Almond tart 259

Cantuccini Twice-baked almond cookies 261

6 Winter

Citrus

Insalata Di Arance Oranges, red onions, and olives 268

Risotto Al Limone Meyer lemon risotto 270

Marmellata Di Kumquat Kumquat marmalade 272

Radocchio

Radicchio Trevisano Grilled radicchio with goat cheese, currants, and pine nuts 275

Insalata Con Castelfranco White radicchio, robiola, and toasted hazelnuts 277

Fennel

Insalata Di Finocchio Shaved raw fennel with olives 279

Finocchi Alla Cenere Charred fennel with orange and honey 280

Cardoons

Cardi Fritti Fried cardoons and sage 283

Root Vegetables

Scorzonera Al Burro Salsify in brown butter and garlic 286

Tuberi Al Forno Roasted turnips, celery root, and parsnips 287

Potatoes

Patate All'Ortolana Crushed potatoes and caramelized shallots 289

Patate Fritte Fried potatoes, garlic, and sage 290

Topini Mugellana Potato gnocchi 293

Home Cooking

Lasagna Cacio E Pepe White lasagna 299

Sugo Di Carne Four-hour meat sauce 303

Sugo Povero Slow-cooked vegetable ragù 304

Svizzerina Hand-chopped steak 305

Salt, Capers, and Anchovies

Bagna Cauda Radishes, anchovy, garlic, and olive oil 309

Crostini Tonno, Caperi E Burro Tuna and caper butter on toast 311

Baccalà Mantecato Salt cod whipped with potatoes and olive oil 313

Branzino Al Sale Salt-baked sea bass 317

Truffles

Bruschetta Con Tartufo Nero Shaved black truffles and ricotta on toast 322

Tagliatelle Al Tartufo Fresh pasta with white truffles and butter 323

Chocolate and Nuts

Torta Al Cioccolato Flourless chocolate cake 327

Tartufi Al Cioccolato Chocolate truffles with grappa 328

Semifreddo Alla Gianduia Chocolate hazelnut semifreddo 329

Croccante Di Nocciole Candied hazelnuts 332

Bruciate Roasted chestnuts 335

7 Basics

Vinaigrettes and Condiments

Via Carota Vinaigrette 340

Robiola Vinaigrette 341

Dried Porcini Vinaigrette 342

Sal Moriglio Lemon and garlic dressing 343

Aioli Garlic mayonnaise 345

Salsa Verde Fresh herb and caper sauce 346

Broths and Brines

Vegetable Broth 348

Court Bouillon 349

Brine 350

Rigatina Cured pork belly 351

Conserves and Seasonings

Strutto Seasoned pork fat 354

Garlic Confit 355

Tonno Sott'Olio Olive oil-preserved tuna 356

Fennel Seed Salt 357

Ricotta Affumicata Smoked ricotta 358

Pasta And Doughs

Pasta Sfoglia Fresh egg pasta 363

Pasta Di Semola Semolina flour pasta 365

Semolina Flour Pasta for Lasagna 366

Pasta Frolla Sweet pastry dough 367

Acknowledgments 369

Index 371

Editorial Reviews

★ 08/01/2022

With the mission “to transport” readers to “another place and time, where we have breathed in the rustic beauty and uncomplicated flavors,” chefs Williams and Sodi deliver a swoon-worthy collection of dishes from their distinctive New York City restaurant. The recipes—mostly simple, plainly stated, and vegetable forward—capture the essence of their culinary experience in Italy. The dishes are organized by season and are further subdivided by main ingredient, which is helpful for home cooks looking for meal ideas based on what they’ve got in the pantry. The chefs elevate their selections with small touches, such as the crunch of spring onion and celery in panzanella and a warm honey syrup drizzled over an olive oil cake. Perhaps the best example of this is Via Carota’s signature insalata verde, a piled-high mix of soft, peppery, and lacy greens whose vinaigrette is a balanced blend that employs a bit of warm water to help it emulsify (“It’s a favorite. Enough said”). Even the more luxurious plates of lobster with fresh tomatoes and spaghetti, and a 10-layer cacio e pepe lasagna, are accessible thanks to clear directions and helpful tips. Glimpses of their operation come to life in casual notes, such as describing how tomatoes ripen on a tall rack in the kitchen, and in handsome photography, with images showing how crocks of citrus perfume the dining room in winter months. This is sure to please lovers of Italian food and initiate even more pilgrimages to its namesake eatery. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST COOKBOOKS OF 2022 by Bon Appetit, Epicurious, Vice, Robb Report, and Cup of Jo

A BON APPETIT BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

"Via Carota is one of the most beloved restaurants in NYC because of its simple, elegant Italian home cooking. I love this cookbook and so will you!" —Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa

"Via Carota is one of my favorite places in the world — always delicious and my first stop when home in NY. I’m so excited to learn some of Jody’s and Rita’s secrets for these beloved dishes." —Sofia Coppola; DIRECTOR OF LOST IN TRANSLATION

"Via Carota is one of my very favorite restaurants in New York City, and this cookbook perfectly captures its magic: simple, seasonal, organic, local, and profoundly delicious, these are recipes that I want to eat all the time." —Alice Waters; CHEZ PANISSE

"Like their beloved West Village restaurant, Via Carota will transport you to another time and place—-one where there is time to linger around a bountiful table of antipasti, grains, legumes, and most importantly vegetables. Jody and Rita’s beautiful union is so present in this book that you have the sense they are your dear friends inviting you into their very intimate, gorgeous, and delicious home. Vegetable-forward and deceptively simple, this book should be in your kitchen NOW, propped open to the recipes of the season—I promise you will be intoxicated and hooked from that moment on!" —Suzanne Goin;  AOC, author of Sunday Supper at Lucques

“The last time I ate at Via Carota I asked the same question I ask every time I visit: How do Jody and Rita do it?  Every dish is simple and honest, and every bite breathtakingly delicious.  Here, finally, are the operating instructions for how they do it.” —Dan Barber; BLUE HILL

“When people ask me what my favorite restaurants are in New York City, I sometimes leave out Via Carota because it’s so popular, well…I want to be able to get a seat there myself. But, now with Jody Willaims and Rita Sodi's new cookbook, everyone will have the opportunity to indulge in their vegetable-forward cuisine and the full throttle flavors I love. Like the hilltop street Via del Carota overlooks in Florence, the book is ripe with beauty and delicious recipes. Just leave me a seat or two at this Greenwich Village favorite!” —Nancy Silverton; MOZZA, CHi SPACCA

“Via Carota is one of my favorite restaurants in NYC, which is why I'm so excited for this cookbook! The Tagliatelle al Tartufo and Charred Fennel with Orange and Honey are simply divine!"  —Giada De Laurentiis'; author of Giada’s Italy and Eat Better, Feel Better

"I fell in love with Via Carota the second I opened the book! Everything about it is beautiful and fetching — the photographs, the food, the obvious lack of tweezers and the two chefs. This is so much how I would love to eat and cook. Congratulations Jody and Rita! Thank you for sharing so much of yourselves. Your love shines through." —Deborah Madison, author of An Onion in My Pocket and Vegetable Literacy

"Jody Williams worked with me at Felidia more than twenty years ago and within a few days of working with her I knew that this woman was very talented and was very passionate about Italian food. Her name might be Williams, but her food is truly Italian and, with her Tuscan partner Rita Sodi, they cook some of the best Italian food in New York City. Their flavors and their style are captured in this collection of simple but delicious recipes with “verdure stagionali” as the main protagonist. The recipes are very traditional but at the same time very contemporary, perfect for today’s lifestyle. Brava Jody! Brava Rita!" —Lidia Bastianich; author of MASTERING THE ART OF ITALIAN CUISINE and LIDIA’S ITALIAN-ANERICAN KITCHEN

"In Greenwich Village, there exists an Italian restaurant that rises above the rest, Via Carota. Rita Sodi and Jody Williams, a rare team of co-chefs, have created the ideal Greenwich Village joint. Jody’s and Rita’s love of fava beans, artichokes, pasta, fish, meat, pesto; indeed everything about Italian food that is soulful, and delicious, permeates their wonderful cookbook. The Via Carota cookbook is a love poem to their intense, personalized Italian cuisine." —Jonathan Waxman; author of THR BARBUTO COOKBOOK

"The many hours and days I've spent reveling in the food and ambience at the wonderful Via Carota restaurant can now be extended because of this sterling book, courtesy of the restaurant's incredibly generous and imaginative co-founders, chefs, and life partners, the always caring and sensitive Jody Williams and Rita Sodi. Here, their earthy, delicious, and important cuisine jumps off the page, completely satisfying your need for the delicious. An instant classic." —Hilton Als; Pulitzer Prize winning writer for the New Yorker

"[W]hen I heard Via Carota was coming out with a cookbook, I squealed with excitement, but I was also a little skeptical. How much of the magic that makes this restaurant so special, so quintessentially New York, could be distilled into a cookbook? Quite a lot, it turns out....[
Via Carota] boasts the same simple elegance that defines the restaurant itself. There’s no extravagant food styling—dishes are shot plain and beautiful...Those honest depictions guided me as I cooked my way through the book and realized that Williams and Sodi, with cowriter Anna Kovel, had imbued its pages with the same magic that floats through their restaurant. My food looked like their food...While there’s plenty of meat in this book, the stars here are vegetables...It’s not just the combination of flavors that make these recipes shine...It’s the way Sodi and Williams use simple recipes (many of them demanding less than a dozen ingredients) to teach techniques I would never have come around to on my own. Whether it’s steaming carrots in sugar water or taking the harshness out of shallots with a rinse under cold water, I feel like I’ve been let in on the secrets that make my favorite restaurant my favorite restaurant." —Elazar Sontag, Bon Appétit

"I’ve reacted to the book just as I do the restaurant. It’s how I like to eat, and cook, all the time. Here is the rare restaurant cookbook that will make you a better cook." --Charlotte Druckman, Wall Street Journal

"The Via Carota cookbook is finally here...and includes all of the dishes regulars have come to rely on...a great gift for restaurant lovers and New York expats" —Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit (Best Cookbooks of 2022)

"The New Yorker famously called Via Carota 'New York's Most Perfect Restaurant,' and frankly, I can't disagree with that distinction. Jody Williams and Rita Sodi's tiny, vegetable-and-pasta driven restaurant in Greenwich Village has been the site of some epic meals in my life: long, lazy meals full of laughter with friends and much wine while you eat every last bite. It also happens to be one of my favorite spots to sit at the bar with a glass of wine and a plate of green olives — stuffed with sausage and fried — and just watch the neighborhood for an hour or so. I'm excited to recreate both kinds of experiences at home with their recipes for Meyer Lemon Risotto, Lasagna Cacio e Pepe, Charred Fennel with Orange and Honey, and the Roasted Carrots with Spiced Yogurt and Pistachios I order almost every time I eat at the restaurant." --Food & Wine

"Sharing 140 recipes for re-creating the simple and elegant dishes at their beloved Manhattan restaurant, award-winning chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi emphasize the pleasure in preparation that goes into every seasonal Italian dish." —Jacqueline Raposo, Epicurious

"With the mission “to transport” readers to “another place and time, where we have breathed in the rustic beauty and uncomplicated flavors,”  chefs Williams and Sodi deliver a swoon-worthy collection of dishes from their distinctive New York City restaurant. The recipes—mostly simple, plainly stated, and vegetable forward—capture the essence of their culinary experience in Italy… The chefs elevate their selections with small touches, such as the crunch of spring onion and celery in panzanella and a warm honey syrup drizzled over an olive oil cake. Perhaps the best example of this is Via Carota’s signature insalata verde, a piled-high mix of soft, peppery, and lacy greens whose vinaigrette is a balanced blend that employs a bit of warm water to help it emulsify…Even the more luxurious plates of lobster with fresh tomatoes and spaghetti, and a 10-layer cacio e pepe lasagna, are accessible thanks to clear directions and helpful tips. Glimpses of their operation come to life in casual notes, such as describing how tomatoes ripen on a tall rack in the kitchen, and in handsome photography, with images showing how crocks of citrus perfume the dining room in winter months. This is sure to please lovers of Italian food and initiate even more pilgrimages to its namesake eatery." —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Jody Williams and Rita Sodi’s Via Carota is at this point a New York institution. Everyone from Paul McCartney to the Obamas has dined at the Greenwich Village restaurant, and even after almost a decade, it’s still a tough reservation to nab. Luckily, Williams and Sodi have decided to share some of Via Carota’s magic with us home cooks…Pour yourself a glass of wine or make one of the book’s cocktails and it might almost feel like you’re sitting in the Grove Street space."—Tori Latham, Robb Report; 9 Best New Cookbooks to Buy This Fall

"From the West Village trattoria that Alice Waters calls one of her “very favorite restaurants in New York City” comes this anthology featuring its greatest culinary hits including cacio e pepe lasagna, Meyer lemon risotto, and a pillow-soft olive oil cake that comes together in minutes. The book is required reading (and cooking) for Italian food enthusiasts as well as those who pride themselves on cooking with the seasons." —Benjamin Kemper, Saveur

 “Via Carota by Jody Williams and Rita Sodi is a meaty, 400-page cookbook…Williams and Sodi own Via Carota, a widely-beloved Italian restaurant in Greenwich Village. It embodies the seasonality, simplicity and utter deliciousness of Italian cooking at its finest, and we’re hopeful the book can bring a bit of that magic into our own kitchens. This is food you want to eat every day." —Jennifer Slothower; Arizona Daily Star

"Christmas came early, in the form of Jody Williams and Rita Sodi’s Via Carota: A Celebration of Seasonal Cooking from the Beloved Greenwich Village Restaurant, written with Anna Kovel...and it looks like we got everything we wanted. The recipe for their famous insalata verde is here, and while you might not have the patience to Jenga the feathery tower leaf by leaf, it is perfect. You’ll also find such favorites as favas with escarole and mint, fried rabbit, svizzerina (their answer to a burger), and olive-oil panna cotta. To be honest, such complete wish fulfillment is overwhelming. Where to begin?! The recipes are as crisp, correct, and personal as the restaurant’s décor, and cooking them might take you less time than getting a table." —Christine Muhlke, Air Mail

"In their new book, you’ll find dishes that have graced their menu for years: a Meyer lemon risotto that boldly skips the stock and calls for water instead, fava beans with escarole and mint, and the trofie al pesto are just a few of the recipes I’m glad to finally have. [T]heir insalata verde—a majestic heap of leafy greens dressed in a bracing sherry vinaigrette...has become my go-to salad when I make dinner at home. And if you follow their instructions for preparing cannellini beans by soaking them overnight and allowing them to gently simmer for hours, you’ll be surprised at just how delectable homemade beans can be." —Epicurious

"Divided into chapters based on the seasons, Via Carota the cookbook walks you through the freshest ingredients and how to use them to emphasize their peak form...Pour yourself a glass of wine or make one of the book’s cocktails and it might almost feel like you’re sitting in the Grove Street space." —Tori Latham, Robb Report

"This new cookbook captures the magic of Via Carota's menu and is self-described as "vegetable-forward," with an emphasis on seasonality. The book also includes plenty of practical advice too like how to peel and cook fava beans, an intimidating challenge for the uninitiated. It's a great collection for anyone interested in finding new ways to cook fresh, seasonal vegetables." —Ian Macallen, America Domani

"Via Carota, in the West Village in Manhattan, is one of those restaurants that you don’t want to talk about too much because it’s already so hard to score a table. But now, thanks to this new book by the restaurant’s owners, you can cook many of the dishes that cause people to line up for their food. The prized Via Carota green salad (I know, what’s special about a green salad? You have to try this to understand) relies on the freshest, most buttery lettuces and a chopped shallot in the vinaigrette. The famed pasta, fish, and vegetable dishes are all here. Oh, and Cacio e pepe lasagna!" —Kathy Gunst, WBUR
 
"There’s no better testament to the concept of simple-equals-sophisticated than a meal at Via Carota, the rustic Italian, quintessentially New York restaurant run by Williams and Sodi. The namesake cookbook is infused with personal stories (how they met and married), organized by season, and packed with serious inspiration, especially in the vegetable department. Though the dishes will taste best with high-quality produce and provisions, the recipes rarely call for more than a handful of ingredients. That’s how you know it’s authentic. And Italian." —Cup of Jo

"This cookbook was released in October 2022. Since then, it has garnered nearly as much acclaim as the restaurant itself…Just as Via Carota is not just any Italian restaurant, the Via Carota cookbook is so much more than your average Italian cookbook. Instead, it is a resource that allows you to recreate some of the restaurant's unique takes on iconic dishes while also providing pointers that can vastly improve everyone's standard of cooking." —Jacob Smith, Daily Meal

From the Publisher