FOOD for Thought

Feeding people is always an act of love. While the James Beard Award–winning New York City chefs Jody Williams and Rita Sodi made their names in kitchens (their separate and shared boîtes include the pitch-perfect Tuscan restaurant I Sodi, the café Buvette—so Parisian that the West Village original spawned an outpost in Pigalle—Bar Pisellino, and the perennially packed Via Carota), it’s worth noting that the heart and hospitality to be found in, for instance, Sodi’s lasagna, rightly considered to be among the best in town, isn’t limited to the Resy sharpshooters who can score 8 p.m. tables.

- WILLIAM LI