Babbo

It's June, and we all know what that means...HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ME!! (It's the 11th if anyone cares.) Yes, I know I'm a tremendous baby, and I know people don't do this over the age of 6, but I truly believe Birthday's are a big freakin deal, and if I wanna go out 12 different times to celebrate, that is exactly what I'm going to do!  

So this June 11th, the restaurant honor goes to Babbo, a tried and true classic, that I haven't been to since my NYU days. I really just wanted Italian food done right, and if anyone knows Italian food, I'm thinking Mario Batali can take me there. Of all his establishments (Del Posto, Eataly, Lupa, OTTO, etc), I feel like Babbo best represents classic, delicious Batali food, without all the bells and whistles of a Celebrity Chef helmed restaurant. 

So about a month prior to the day, I diligently secured my reservation because really there is no other way, they are always packed! Once you do get in, you'll quickly find Babbo is a pretty classy joint without being too stuffy. There's a main dining room, as well as a loft-like seating area on the second floor with a beautiful skylight above. Both times that I've been here I was seated upstairs, and generally enjoyed the atmosphere. My only minor complaint is that service is on the slow side. Ever been to one of those places where there are 8 servers around but you seem to be invisible? It was kind of like this, although when we did find our waiter, he could not have been more professional. 
So we decided to go with a couple of appetizers, 2 pastas, and share a main fish. We were quickly served Roasted Chickpeas Bruschetta to start, and I must say, it was perfection. For apps we got the Asparagus Milanese with a poached egg and parmiagiano, and the Carciofi (artichokes) alla Romano. No complaints here,  both appetizers were excellent.

 After the apps, there was some lag time where we devoured the bread and soaked it in the delicious olive oil, but as soon as the pasta course came out we forgot all about our wait. We choose the Maccheroni alla Chitarra with oven dried tomatoes, red chillies and bottarga di muggine. Don't be afraid of this one guys, it was really truly delicious. The Garganelli with Funghi Trifolati was also wonderful. Creamy, tangy, with perfect al dente pasta and unbelievable cheese that was brought over and sprinkled on top. I wanna tell you this one was our fav, but really you cannot go wrong with any pasta at Babbo.

After another kind of long wait, they brought over the Whole Grilled Branzino with mixed radishes, olives and lemon oregeno jam, and we watched as they expertly filleted that sucker and served it to us on 2 beautifully platted dishes. A perfect, perfect grilled fish. The Jam was interesting, a little on the sweet side, but tasty. We got a side of Babbo Greens with Shallots, which was not very good and definitely not worth getting.

Dessert I'm sorry to say was a disappointment. Maybe I just ordered the wrong one? It was tiny, a couple of bites of fried dough with marinated fruit that we did not even finish.
Regardless, I definitely enjoyed Babbo. Is it my favorite restaurant in the whole city? No way, but the pastas and those appetizers were incredible, and for a fine dining experience without the fancy uptown address, Babbo does the trick. We left happy and full.

Now just 364 days til we start planning next year... :-)

Neighborhood: Greenwich Village

Bite Mark: ***and a half

Good For: Special Occasions, PASTA!

Babbo, 110 Waverly Place 212-777-0303 www.babbonyc.com

Carbone

Oh, what a night!
I had such a memorable and fun dining experience the other night at Carbone, the brand new, hottest ticket in town, old school Italian restaurant in the old Rocco space on Thompson Street. Carbone is brought to you from the boys over at the extremely successful and delicious Torrisi Italian Specialties and Parm. From the moment this restaurant opening was announced, the foodie community has been all over it eagerly anticipating Rich Torrisi and Mario Carbone's latest venture. So when I scored a reservation weeks in advance for a 10PM seating on a Thursday night, I was pretty pumped. 

From the moment you walk in, Carbone transports you to a 1950's old world Italian restaurant, complete with life size menus, servers in Zac Posen designed burgundy tuxes, and tunes that match the ambience. It feels like a scene out of The Godfather. It's a dark and cozy place, with 2 smallish rooms and a tiny semi-circle bar in the back that holds about 6 people comfortably. The drinks are expensive at $15 a pop, but they are stellar, and were actually brought down from the original $20 price tag. After about 40 minutes, 2 drinks and 3 check ins with the hostess, we are still not seated. I'm livid. It's now 10:45, I have a reservation, and they could care less. The horrid review began writing itself in my mind....
But then, the evening took quite a turn. We were quickly seated and given the "freebies" (or not, given the hefty price tag of this meal), consisting of a chunk of Parmesan Cheese (YUM), and an amazing looking Bread Basket including Grandma Bread, Breadsticks, and the most delicious, oily, garlicky, crispy Garlic Bread I've ever had in my life. YUM.

Our old waiter was not too thrilled about the 'no meat no shellfish' rule we imposed on him, and condescendingly said something like "well then, you're on your own". Really?  Thanks for the help, man. We still managed to do okay. 

Some friends of ours walked in soon after and they accommodated us by moving us to a table for 6 in the back room. Here's where things get interesting...Not 2 tables down from us sits Jake Gyllenhaal, Jay-Z, and about 10 of their friends, loudly talking, drinking, eating (making animal grunting noises !?) and having a great time. FINE. Maybe I can let slide that wait time. Now as a New Yorker, I see famous people time to time. New Yorkers are cool like that. We just roll with it and realize we live in the best city in the world, and sitting next to Jay-Z, or Jonah Hill (like I did the other day at Smile to Go), is one of the many perks. Regardless, it's still pretty awesome. We didn't bother them, just snuck some flashless photos and admired our dining mates, even as they pretty much took over the spot and started smoking cigarettes amongst over things (happy 4/20!) right at the table. Funnnnnnnnn. But I digress. I guess this review should at some point mention the delicious food we consumed. 

 Appetizers. Caesar Salad, I'm told is usually prepared table side. It wasn't for us. It was good and garlicky. I actually liked the version I had at Speedy Romeo the other day better. The Asparagus Genovese was excellent. House Chopped Salad also good, but nothing crazy. 
Main courses we went all out on the pasta. Spicy Rigatoni Vodka. Please order this. Al dente, spicy (but not inedible), delicious. Top item of the night. The other pastas were also great. We had the Penne Primavera, The Fettucine Con Funghi and the Angel Hair AOP. Rigatoni and Angel Hair were probably my favs, but really they are all excellent. The Polenta Torrisi is a definite winner as well, and the Funghi Trifolati was licked clean. 

 

As if all those carbs weren't enough, we ordered 4 desserts including Nutella Tiramisu, Banana Split, Cheesecake and Carrot Cake. We also got another freebie of sugar dusted crisps, and shots of Grappa was offered all around. My favorites  are the Carrot Cake with ginger ice-cream and candied walnuts and the Cheesecake. WOW! Order both. 

Go on OpenTable, and book any reservation you can get here. It's expensive, and they make you wait, nontheless its a great spot and I highly recommend it. I can't promise you celebrity sightings, but the food was incredible, the service for the most part was good, and it was just a really great, great night. Can't wait to go back. I love New York. 


Neighborhood: Greenwich Village 

Bite Mark: ****

Good For: Hot Spot, Trendy, Impress your Date, Family Dinner, Special Occasion 

Carbone, 181 Thompson St 212=254-3000 www.carbonenewyork.com

L'Artusi

This year for Valentine's (or the day before as we like to do it), instead of opting for a fancy stuffy place that we've never been (last year we did Le Bernardin, year before was Daniel), we deciding on keeping it real, and just going with somewhere we love with amazing food.
L'Artusi was my number one choice and all week it was all I could think about (seriously hah).  I love this place. It's not new and it's not fancy, but each time I go they are packed with young, hip people and the service and food get better and better. I've been a number of times now and I can boldly say that L'Artusi is one of my favorite spots in the whole city (!!) 

L'Artusi is named for the famed gastronome Pellegrino Artusi and is run by the wonderful team of Gabe Thompson and Joe Campanale (Dell' Anima, L'Apicio). It is an inviting and warm Italian restaurant in the West Village, with an open kitchen, white marble bar, cheese and raw bar, and comfortable booths. There's space for private dining upstairs and also boasts an impressive wine cellar. The service each time I've been here is friendly and impeccable, and the food is always EXCELLENT. Their brunch is amazing, and their dinner even better. 

When the hostess told us upon arrival to have a drink at the bar and 2 seats magically became available at that same moment, we decided to make ourselves comfortable and let Aaron the bartender take care of us. I jokingly warned him that the bar may not have room to hold all the food I was about to order but he reassured me to leave everything to him.

THE FOOD. We started with a special cheese of the night which was a House-made Ricotta with EVOO, sea salt and toasted cracker type bread with an orange marmalade. We licked it clean. The Fluke Ceviche with pear, pumpkin seeds and pomegranate was fresh and clean tasting and we had to fight over the last bite. Roasted Mushrooms with fried egg, and ricotta salata. All I'm going to say is please ORDER THIS! I wish I got a better picture. It was so f****ing good! I don't know what they do to those mushrooms but they were salty and crispy and almost meaty tasting and paired with the egg and cheese, it was heaven in a plate. Seriously, get this. 

 Next came the pastas. Their basic Spaghetti with garlic, parmesan, and chilies is anything but basic. It is spectacular. It is delicious. It is so simple yet so freaking good. Al dente and crispy and really just perfection. I could have had 3 plates of this. The Ravioli with autumn squash, sage brown butter and parmesan was also delicious but definitely had that sweet kick. It's also an excellent, excellent pasta. We went for the Red Snapper with white beans and spinach for the fish and although it was okay, it honestly did not stand up to the rest of this wondeful meal. The Cauliflower side with capers, lemon, and bread crumbs was yummy, but the Brussel Sprouts with black pepper and pecorino, Oh My Lord. I know it sounds like I keep saying this, but holy freaking cow. They are insane. 

 We ended the meal with Aaron's recommendation, the Hazelnut Chocolate Torta with Praline crunch and salted caramel gelato. Another home run. Really really excellent and delicious. Salty, creamy, sweet, crunchy. Wonderful. 
So to recap, go to L'Artusi hungry and I can guarantee you will leave happy. Do not miss the mushroom appetizer, spaghetti with chillies, roasted brussel sprouts, and hazelnut dessert. I honestly don't think you can go too wrong at L'Artusi. They are running a fabulous establishment here and they are doing it really really well. 

Enjoy, and Happy Valentines's to all!! 


Neighborhood: West Village

Bite Mark: ****

Good For: Everything! Date night, Out with Friends, Family, Girl's Night, etc, etc, etc

L'Artusi, 228 West 10th bet Bleecker & Hudson  212-255-5757 www.lartusi.com

Louro

After an amazing and relaxing week off in the beautiful (but food starved) Dominican Republic, I am back and I am hungry! As much as I enjoyed my vacation, I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss "real" New York food. No matter where my travels take me (and obviously this was no culinary adventure), my heart and stomach will always belong to NY. 

It's Saturday night and armed with our very good friends and a huge appetite, we were psyched for Louro, the new West Village hot spot. Louro is a New American restaurant from acclaimed chef David Santos of Per Se and Bouley fame, who most recently has been hosting dinner parties out of his apartment on Roosevelt Island. Chef Santos is much loved and appreciated in the NY restaurant scene and I was excited for the 9:30 reservation I smartly booked prior to leaving. 

Louro is located in the old Low Country Space on restaurant packed West 10th Street off 7th Ave South. It's simple and clean, with a packed bar on one side, booths, and some more tables in the back. It's not a large space and I'd definitely not recommend a drop by on a busy night. Although we waited almost a half hour with a reservation on a busy and cold Saturday night, the hostess was gracious and even comped our first round of drinks.


Our waiter, James, was friendly and helped us navigate the menu for the most part with spot on recommendations. The warm bread was brought out promptly and in lieu of the pork butter that comes with it, they made us a DELICIOUS black pepper compote butter. First course we had an Arugula Salad (bottom right) with pecorino, piquillo peppers and roasted garlic dressing, another salad similar to a Caesar which was bitter and not great, Roasted Brussel Sprouts and  Roasted Sweet Potatoes with pumpkin seeds. I have to admit this was not our favorite course. Both salads were okay, I just didn't find them to be spectacular. I also didn't care much for the roasted peppers in the arugula salad that tasted like they were from a jar. The Brussel Sprouts were delicious.

The second course was much better. Hamachi Crudo was served with purple carrots and fried crunchy somethings. Pretty good. The Poached Duck Egg with Polenta, brown butter and sage was a huge crowd pleaser and we even got a second one. The bottom right is Crunchy Toast topped with herbs, and what tasted like feta cheese and botarga. James pushed it and it was surprisingly delicious. A second one was ordered of this as well. 

Next came the pastas and fish course. I enjoyed the Gnocchi Romano with truffle and fried onions immensely. Not the lightest dish, but yummy. House made Cavatelli with Artichokes, Eggplant, and Parmiagiano was also wonderful. I have to admit I only took a taste of the fish, and they were both flavorful but not the reason I would go back here. We had both the Red Snapper and Idaho Trout. I liked the snapper better, but my friend thought the fresh flavors of the trout prevailed. 

We ended the night off with the Peanut Butter Pain Perdu which was a tasty play on PB & J with Grape Jelly and Marshmellow Ice cream. I liked it a lot, light, refreshing and delicious. The Chocolate Cake with Peppercini Flakes and Vanilla Ice Cream was a little heavy and also good, although a few bites is probably enough. I liked the spiciness to it. 



All in all Louro was a nice experience. I liked the vibe and the service was excellent. We enjoyed some dishes better than others (Polenta, Gnocci, PB Perdu were the standouts), but even the less fantastic items were good. The menu items change seasonally, but you really can't go wrong. Also useful to note is that they were very accommodating for vegetarians and there was an overabundance of food for us to gouge ourselves on. This is definitely some serious food from a serious chef. Louro does not disappoint. 

Neighborhood: West Village

Bite Mark: ***

Good For: Drinks, Date Spot, Couples Night, Small Parties, Trendy

Louro, 142 West 10th Street between Waverly & Greenwich 212-206-0606 www.louronyc.com