When thinking of the best Italian restaurants in NYC, Melrose doesn’t exactly come to mind, until now. Primed right on East 161st Street - less than a half mile from Yankee Stadium, Porto Salvo is bringing exquisite, southern Italian cuisine to the borough in never-before-done style.

“This area is a food desert and we intend to change that,” said Mark Lu, co-owner of Porto Salvo. “We’re bringing Italian food like you would get in Brooklyn or Manhattan to the south Bronx for the first time,” Lu added. When Lu moved into Via Verde on Melrose Avenue six years ago he realized that the area’s cuisine didn’t excel past KFC or McDonalds.