Visit date: October 14
My reaction: "I don't know..."
Our reservation is accepted one month in advance and even doing so an hour after the phone lines open, prime eating times between 7-830 are already booked. The next available reservation is 9pm, not too late for New York standards. Unfortunately, the reservation gets us in the door for the night but we still wait an additional 30-40 minutes.
Continuing our fabulous experience, a server initially brings out the wrong pasta entree to me. Rather than bringing beef cheek ravioli, they deliver "Mint Love Letters with spicy sausage". But I don't allow them to take it away, I've already tried it.
The dishes are decent, but perhaps all the hype makes the food subpar. Yes, Batali uses non-traditional ingredients, but not so foreign to someone who grew up accustomed to eating intestines, pig's ears, and fish eyes. The raviolis leave you wanting more – essentially 2 sheets of pasta with one teaspoon of filling. Prior to our dinner tonight, I had seen Chef Batali make his beef cheek ravioli on tv. The process involves boiling the cheeks in a stock full of promising aromatics. Unfortunately, the cheeks are subsequently pureed so the real texture and flavors do not come out, just mush. Perhaps throwing black truffle on the sauced raviolis is enough, but to me, it just masks the flavors even more. Along the same lines, the lamb’s tongue appetizer has too much lemon juice squeezed atop, flavors fail to come through. It almost feels like Batali wants to introduce eaters to unique ingredients, but is afraid and keeps the dishes too restrained. (I have a feeling I’m going to hell for this comment if Batali ever reads this post.)
Desserts are more enjoyable – choices other than typically seen tiramisu and affogato. Pumpkin bonet is served with pomegranate seeds and tastes like flan. Pumpkin taste of the season. Yum. Schiacciata involves a brioche with concord grapes baked in, served with vanilla bean ice cream. Being from California, concord grape dishes stand out since it's not an ingredient we have. Finally, something new and exciting.
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| warm lamb’s tongue vinaigrette with brown beech mushrooms and a 3-minute egg |
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| neci con funghi misti (vegetarian) |
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| salad gratis for waiting so long to be seated |
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| roasted beet tartare with chianti vinegar and ricotta salata |
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| mint love letters with spicy lamb sausage |
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| goat cheese tortelloni with dried orange and wild fennel pollen (vegetarian) |
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| beef cheek ravioli with crushed squab liver and black truffles |
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| pumpkin bonet |
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| "Schiacciata d'Uva" with Hudson Valley concord grapes and honey vanilla gelato |
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