With all the competition in the New York restaurant business, the NoMad Italian eatery Cardoncello diVino is trying to stand out by being the only restaurant to offer the Cardoncello mushroom, which has unique features and a storied history. The restaurant, at 43 W. 27th St., between Broadway and Sixth Ave., opened last July. Several menu items include the Cardoncello mushroom, which grows in southern Italy and has a rich flavor and thick, meaty texture.

The restaurant notes on its menu the mushroom’s long history. Ancient Roman poet Horace was apparently smitten with the ’shroom after tasting it, declaring, “This mushroom is so fleshy, so compact, so flavorful! It must certainly be the gods’ food!” The fungal food would later be banned by the Vatican in the belief that consuming it would lead to sins of the flesh and distract from atonement.