Ever since Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone began rehabilitating chicken Parm and Neapolitan cookies around 2010, I’ve been waiting for other restaurants to carry the torch of Italian-American food boldly into the future. This is a major branch of American cuisine, too important for its fate to be left to the Olive Garden.

For the most part, though, the torch has gone uncarried. I have been told that Palizzi Social Club, in Philadelphia, may qualify, but because Palizzi is a veritable club — members and guests only, no new applications accepted — I don’t expect to eat there before the nation’s tricentennial.