As someone who lives above both a subway station and a pizzeria, I immediately felt the pull of Bar Bucce in Little River. The railroad-adjacent pizzeria and bottle shop from the team behind Macchialina is a thoughtful harmony of wine bar, restaurant, and contemporary Italian delicatessen. Michelin-award recipient Jacqueline Pirolo offers a drinks playground of high-value options and rare sake, wine, and liquors, all to be enjoyed with excellent pizza.
Thin slices of prosciutto and mortadella are delivered from a red hand-cranked flywheel slicer while kids mark the deli counter with fingerprints. The retail shelves evoke a museum gift shop with backlit displays, spotlighting their collection of wine, chocolate, and pistachio cookies. An indoor-outdoor bar serves as the pulse of the restaurant and leads to a backyard of open-air seating. And that rumble you hear isn’t from a revved-up Daytona Spyder, it’s from a train. It shakes wine glasses in its wake, matching the convivial energy Bar Bucce brings to the table.
For a surprise, purchase a bottle of wine wrapped in a brown paper bag called “Blind Date with Bucce.” It has handwritten tasting notes so you can hold your own blind tasting. Keep an eye out for Pizza with Friends, the restaurant’s collaboration series that invites visiting chefs to create limited-edition pies.