Conant’s Booty-Shakin’ Faustina Is $14 Fried Chicken: Food Buzz

Faustina, a two-month old venture in Manhattan’s Cooper Square Hotel, is packed. People crowd Scott Conant’s restaurants for many reasons, all of which elude me.

At Scarpetta, they swoon over his tomato and basil spaghetti, which is overcooked, overpriced ($24) and oversauced. A similar dish, spiked with sea urchin at Faustina, had little of the promised pomodoro or crustacean on an early visit.