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After a dispute with their former business partner (who owns the Manhattan spot with which this restaurant once shared a name), owners Sarah and Jonathan Casteel swapped the Po awning for one reading Bino – after their cat, Bambino. They kept the friendly staff, the rustic-minimalist décor, the affordable wine list, and the menu unchanged. That’s good news for the locals (and occasional Manhattanite) who pack the joint nightly for Bino’s top-notch take on homey Italian fare. A complimentary plate of sweet, oily white-bean bruschetta starts off the meal, and smart diners know not to skip the pastas: sweet, toothsome bucatini all’amatriciana, hyper-garlicky linguine vongole, and perhaps the richest, funkiest carbonara in town. You could easily fill up on noodles, but the secondi are worth it too, especially the pitch-perfect interpretations of red-sauce joint classics like chicken piccata or veal Milanese. Desserts are sweet and simple – a dense slice of chocolate terrine, a pine nut-and-pistachio sundae – but something of an afterthought; fill up instead on an extra half-portion of tagliarini with boar bacon and radicchio. — Helen Rosner

A three-course prix-fixe is a steal at $28, and includes a selection of cheeses from nearby Stinky Bklyn.

Spaghetti carbonara, $17;  bucatini all'amatriciana, $17; veal milanese, $23

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