voberoi

Ajay, I would encourage you to check out the detailed account by my friend Mao (link included) of his Sugiyama trip(s) on the chowhound board. If you really want to experience the depth of his skills, omakase (what ever the chef pleases) is the way to go (I think it is 贝 pp). Unfortunately, Sugiyama does not get the kind of press like Nobu. So it is easy to get a reservation at the bar (where the Bodhisattva himself serves you). Good luck.. http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/messages/26432.html Vivin'>http://www.chowhound.com/boards/manhat/mes...82.html Vivin

Managed to snag a reservation for two at Babbo (Fri night). We reached the rest 45 min early but were seated within 5 min nevertheless. Excellent. We asked our waiter about recommendations. We really wanted to sample a lot of dishes - so we naturally gravitated toward the tasting menu - there were two listed (a regular one and a pasta tasting). My wife used to be a vegetarian who converted to the dark side after having Guy Savoy's tasting menu at his flagship restaurant in Paris last year. However, she tends to stay away from red meat. Unfortunately for me we were informed that we could not try both the pasta tasting menu (largely vegetarian) and the regular tasting menu (we did that at Lespinasse about a month ago with excellent results). That sounds too inflexible a policy. Oh well, we settled on the pasta tasting menu after we were informed that we could order a vegetarian version. Good enough. A few minutes later, the waiter returned to inform us that they had stopped offering vegetarian pasta tasting anymore. Back to the drawing board. At this point, our waiter seemed a little annoyed – that was a strange feeling that I have never experienced at fine restaurants in NY before. It was not our fault that they were being inflexible. We ignored him (and he did the same). We went ahead with the pasta tasting. My wife also ordered the accompanying wine tasting. Black Taliatelle with Parsnips and Pancetta in a buttery sauce – Excellent combination of textures and a smooth warm flavor overall. Very good. Pinot Plus from Bastianich (crisp and refreshing). Bitter greens and Sorrel Ravioli with Scallion Butter – From here on, we realized that the level of pasta Mr. Batali and his team are putting out is clearly on another level. The ravioli was like butter and combined with the bitter greens for a subtle yet sophisticated flavor. Muller-Thurgau “Vigna Palai” was the wine – do not ask me about it, it was really nice. Garganelli with Funghi Trifolati – The mushrooms were the stars of this excellent concoction accompanied by Ciro Rossa “Donna Madda” Gnocchi with Duck Ragu – If my wife says it was good and ate all the duck in it – you better believe it was fantastic. Melt in your mouth gnocchi with minimal of sauce with ground duck in it. I was delirious at this point. Valpolicella Ripasso “Santo Stefano” from Boscaini, a smoky red wine that complimented it perfectly. Pappardelle Bolognese – A little bit too salty but the pappardelle was just about as perfect as it can get. The Bolognese sauce was amazing. We ended up leaving quite a bit on the plate and complained to the waiter that there was too much salt in it. He just kind of shrugged off the comment and went to the next course. Crostino di caprino with apples and Thyme – this was the only mediocre course. A pastry with goat cheese (tasted old) with tasteless apple chunks. Saffron panna cota with quince and pink peppercorn for me and a Vanilla ice cream sandwich with pistachio sauce for my wife. Both very good. The desserts were accompanied by Alban di Romagna and Moscato D’Asti respectively – two dessert wines from Italy that made my wife re examine her fascination with Sauterenes. The Moscato was an eye opening semi-sparkling sweet wine by Elio Perrone that is will keep me hunting for it till I find it. Overall, it was an excellent experience. I would like to go back and try some more meat dishes the next time (when I can get another reservation that is). The service was a bit spotty (but that could have been our waiter). It was also less expensive than restaurants of similar caliber (Lespinasse etc). Mr Batali knows what he is doing.

Aha, That was it all right (blood that is). I was wondering what made me turn off some of the dishes. I am never to say no to a little fat or grease.

Lespinasse – An experience in contrasts Me and my wife went to Lespinasse for dinner on Sat – something we had meant to do for a while. We got an early seating – we called only one day before. We were seated in the corner – that turned out to be a benefit – we were away from noisy tables that held parties of 6 or more. This way we were able to talk and enjoy our long dinner in peace. Following is the procession of food that followed. I had the chef's tasting menu and my wife ordered the vegetarian tasting menu. First – A trio of soups for me: I missed out on the rock shrimp in lobster sabayon (allergic to shell fish) and got some mushrooms thrown together in their own juices. On the other hand, the cold pea soup with mint was cool and refreshing. It entertained my head with a variety of subtle flavors. The warm mushroom bisque soothed my soul with a reassuring quality. There was some kind of fish in it too. My wife got tomatoes simply marinated in rock salt – an eye opener on how good tomatoes can be. Second – My wife got the same pea soup I had but in a largish bowl while I got a piece of sea bass marinated in some sort of Asian-French style (similar in style to the soy/sake marinated cod at Sugiyama) but had berries in the sauce and came with strips of tomatoes. Excellent overall. Third – Sauteed foie gras with chestnuts and walnuts with a reduced Sauterne sauce accompanied with a glass of an excellent sauterene. Wow! The quality of the ingredients were enough to wake up this palette. My wife got an array of four types of mushrooms that were sautéed in butter and presented in their own jus. A nice medley of flavor, texture and aroma. Fourth – From here on, I felt I was in a car that had spun off course. Seared tuna on a piece of red meat – it could have been lamb or mutton – braised in a red wine sauce. The whole combination was heavy and the smell and taste of the meat overpowered the tuna. This was obviously classic French cooking that I did not particularly like but would get over. I tried the tuna and nibbled at the meat. My wife had a ragout of asparagii and greens with hazelnut truffle sabayon dressing. Spectacular. The sabayon was perfect at pulling together the salad. Fifth – My woes continued with a piece of braised bacon in a foamy sauce that I somehow consumed about half of. There was a nice contrast of textures with the outside being crunchy and salty with the fat inside soft and sweet. But it was bacon and did not do anything for my palette. My wife, meanwhile, was polishing off the most perfect risotto with the same excellent tomatoes. Another spectacular creation from the chef. Sixth – Roasted squab with green beans in a now too familiar red sauce. Another preparation of meat prepared in a way to make it even heavier with nothing to counteract the dense bland flavor. The procession of innovative and eye opening dishes continues on the other side of the table with a light fluffy couscous with variety of vegetables and hints of red pepper assaulting the senses. How can the same kitchen turn out three courses that are all heavy, bland and texture wise dense while the other three that came out succeeded in entertaining all five senses in a spectacular fashion. Amazing how innovative the vegetarian menu was compared to the chef’s tasting menu. Seventh – Oranges in a champagne sabayon and champagne sorbet. This would have been sublime had the orange pieces been good. At least they were not sour. Eighth – The theme of being conventional continued with me getting a all chocolate desert: mousse, ice cream, spunge cake and napoleon. Good but not very revelatory. Overdose of chocolate and not light either. My wife got a minnestrone of mangoes and other fruit with a grilled piece of not so ripe mango. Quite good. The petit fours were generic. Overall, it was the best vegetarian food that wife has ever had – I believe her. I, otoh, had a meal that started off spectacularly and went downhill extremely fast. The service was extremely good and the wine we had them select was very nice – a Chablis, pinot noir and Pinot D’Alsace that were great but not amazing.