That old bellwether of the New York dining landscape, the Italian restaurant, has lately undergone what Darwinians like to call an "evolutionary leap." Many eons ago, the Red Sauce Epoch gave way to the Age of the Trattoria, which in turn gave way, in certain quarters, to the rise of elevated gourmet establishments like Michael White's Marea and Mario Batali's Babbo and Del Posto.

Lately, however, these dinosaur-size operations, and even some trattorias, have been overtaken by a smaller, more nimble (and yes, faster-breeding) species of Italian joint. Grand venues have been replaced by boxy, adaptable little spaces, and baroque multicourse menus have been reduced to a single, tiny page.

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Source: http://www.grubstreet.com/