Acqua, on Peck Slip by the Brooklyn Bridge in lower Manhattan (it used to be called Quartino, but another restaurant stole the name and for whatever reason they decided not to fight it). Great casual Italian dining, outdoor seating overlooking the Peck Slip parking lot (!), decent wine list and reasonable prices. Service can be slow. Oh, and did I mention pretty women?
And the reason is, that there are no longer any ethnic Italian neighorhoods in Manhattan. (Rao's, for example, is a holdover from the way that neighborhood used to be. As is ALL of Little Italy.)
So those kinds of places don't really exist in Manhattan any more.