What to Eat

Big Nights at Left Bank

Hope your closest eight to fourteen friends are hungry.
Hope your closest eight to fourteen friends are hungry. Photo: Michael Allin/New York Magazine

You can’t swing a goat in this town without hitting a restaurant that offers its carnivorous customers the option of tucking into a whole-beast feast. Now the pastavores are getting in on the large-format action. Beginning Monday, Left Bank chef Laurence Edelman is busting out his springform pan and cooking up the Italian baked-pasta showstopper known as a timballo (or timpano, if you’re a fan of the 1996 film Big Night). It feeds eight to fourteen, costs $65 per person (salad, sautéed greens, gelati, and pie included), and requires three days’ notice plus pants with an elastic waistband. The gigantic thing’s available to go, too.

Big Nights at Left Bank