As a New Yorker who wants each neighborhood to be different, each block to be like a pocket with a secret tucked inside it, I have strongly mixed feelings about gentrification. As a critic confronted with shiny new restaurants in changing neighborhoods, though, I have to admit that I often end up liking the shiny new places more than what came before.

So I didn't waste time worrying about the other Italian restaurants on the south end of Mulberry Street when Pasquale Jones took up residence there in February. Those indistinguishable Little Italy flytraps with their sidewalk hawkers, their holy-communion-ready wines, their lifeless linguine facedown in a shallow pool of clam sauce: They could stand some competition. And the wandering hordes now stand a better chance of tasting New York-style Italian food.

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/