Babbo, NYC

On Tuesday night Alan and I met up with Patty and Allison for dinner at the much anticipated, very hard reservation to get, Babbo. This West Village, Mario Batali & Joe Bastianiche establishment has been around for a while (1998) and has garnered pretty rave reviews from people we know who have been and basically everyone on Zagat.

Our reservation was for 6pm and per our typical, Alan and I went down early to have a drink at the bar. We arrived at 5pm on the dot and were surprised that not only hadn't they opened the doors yet, there was a line of people waiting to get in. This seemed to be driven by the five little tables up front and two seats at the bar that are reserved for walk ins. After a little wait the doors opened and we claimed seats at the far end of the bar. We ordered drinks (sparkling wine for me, Gimlet for Alan) and settled in to observe the goings-on.

The restaurant is pretty small with fourteen tables (seating up to six) downstairs and a large center staircase leading up to a skylight-lit second floor with another dozen or so more tables. We were taken to our table upstairs where the combination of light and layout made for a pretty nice ambiance. Low music playing in the background, woods of light tan and beige mixed well with the white table clothes and central floral display.

Perusing the menu and noticing the attractively priced tasting menus, we decided immediately to ask if we could order two of the pasta tastings and two of the chef's tastings since they were the same number of courses. Our waiter came over and with a resounding NO, informed us that they don't do that. Everyone would have to have the same tasting menu or none at all. And while at first thrown back by the vehement of this statement and waiting for him to crack a smile and say just kidding, it dawned on me that this was not going to be anything like a high end French dining experience and I'd better lower my expectations. So we asked for more time to scan the menu, ordered a bottle of Gatinois Brut Rose NV champagne and pondered his scowl, huff and hasty retreat from our table.

The menu is pretty large so it took us a while to figure out a plan of attack; basically appetizers, pasta and then entree. Patty asked for recommendations and our put-out waiter told her the rabbit and quail were two of the best dishes along with the chops. We placed our order...

I realize I have been apologizing a lot for this lately - yes I once again forgot to take pictures until we were halfway through our first course. Forgive me...hopefully these give some idea. After a small plate of chickpea brioche from the kitchen (eh, not great), the appetizers were served.

Patty ordered grilled octopus with "Borlotti Marinati" and spicy limoncello vinaigrette. This dish was very nice. The pieces of octopus were thick but prepared without any chewiness to them. The vinaigrette had flavor but wasn't spicy.

Alan selected the warm tripe "alla parmigiana". The portion size was huge! It was really too big for an appetizer serving and while enjoying it, there was no way to even come close to finishing the dish. Also, the tripe was swimming in the ragu making it pleasant but hard to discern any real flavor from the tripe itself.

Allison went with an roasted artichoke hearts, goat cheese and toastini. This dish was blah. Nothing noteworthy from the dull color and presentation to the flavor balance. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but it didn't tell a story either.

I chose the asparagus with parmigiana and poached duck egg. The asparagus shoots were super thick and sweet; the parmigiana was shaved all over the plate like tiny shards of snow and the egg was perfect - runny but with definition and fantastic flavor. Great dish.

Next up were the pasta dishes. We took alot of time selecting pastas much to the dismay of our surly waiter. There were so many that sounded so good it was hard to pick. Here's where we netted out:

Patty got the Chianti stained papperdelle with wild boar ragu. The picture isn't showing the odd color of this dish. It came out looking like someone shaved raw tongue on the plate - a dull beet hue to it. While the color wasn't appealing, the taste was fabulous. I thought with was the dish of the night with the boar being so rich and tender and without any gaminess to it. I was impressed by the favor profile here.

Alan tried the beef cheek ravioli with squashed quail liver and black truffles. It was pretty good but the sauce came off a bit sweet which wasn't what I was thinking it would be when I tried it. The texture was on the soft side overall so the dish didn't impress.

Allison ordered the black spaghetti with rock shrimp, spicy salami calabrese and green chilis. This dish was really good. I loved the pasta cooked al dente with that little bit of crunch to it and combination of flavors from the shrimp and salami. I didn't get any chili on the palate so there was no heat to speak of.

I opted for the gnocchi with braised oxtail. The gnocchi was well prepared - light and creamy without making you feel like you just ate a loaf of bread. The oxtail was tender but overwhelmed by the tomato ragu. This one was just okay.

By this time our bottle of 2007 Fattoria Viticcio Monile Toscana IGT was delivered by our now downright hostile waiter who proceeded to spill an alarming amount out and around Allison's glass without acknowledgement or apology. The main courses arrived after a brief but nice interlude of time.

Patty took the waiter's (we should have known better) recommendation and tried the trio of rabbit (front leg, back leg and loin) with brussel sprouts, parsnips, pancetta and carrot vinaigrette. Patty didn't like this dish. When I tried it I remember commenting that the rabbit itself was nicely prepared - tender and moist with good flavor and no game. It was the rest of the dish that didn't seem to compliment the meat.

Alan went with the waiter's second recommendation of grilled guinea hen with pumpkin fregula and black truffle vinaigrette. I know I tried Alan's entree and thinking it was pretty good but I can't remember any of the flavor palette or texture.

Allison tried the grilled lamb chops. Prepared medium rare and attractive on the plate, I wasn't a fan of the lamb chop. I got too much of a mint, rosemary combination and not enough experience of the lamb itself. I'm also not usually a fan of lamb so I could be biased.

I ordered the special grilled veal chop with roasted porcini mushrooms and black truffle vinaigrette. I don't know if I've ever ordered veal in a restaurant before this and have no idea what possessed me to do so other than always enjoying the stolen bites from Alan when he orders it. I was thrilled with this chop. Other than being big enough that I knew there was no way it was getting finished, I really enjoyed the simple preparation and taste. It was nicely cooked and moist, tender and pink. I thought the accompaniment of mushrooms was a perfect choice and really would have finished every last bite if I weren't already past the point of full.

A few other notes about our evening at Babbo. At some point during our pasta course the lite, pleasant background music became an out-of-place, loud selection of alternative & classic rock that made it hard to hold a conversation. While the rest of our service crew were very pleasant, our waiter was downright rude, inattentive and pissy. He put a damper on the evening that is impossible to overlook.

The food was hit and miss with a third of the dishes being great, a third okay and a third being not appealing. Not a good showing at all ~ especially to have so many of them recommended to us and then still not living up.

Overall I was disappointed. A bright note and one that influenced my rating was that the bill was downright cheap for a dinner of this supposed caliber in New York City. I think it was $150 a person for the three courses and two bottles of wine. That explains the rather young crowd and overall popularity.

Ratings:
Zagat: 27-22-24
Michelin: no stars
Jenn: 84