Acqua Pazza

[SobaAddict70]

The name acqua pazza means "crazy water," and it refers to the age-old practice around Naples of baking fish in a bath of seawater, wine, olive oil and tomatoes. True to form, the restaurant notes that the olive oil is from Liguria and the salt is from Sicily. The menu doesn't say it, but someone actually fetches the seawater from the Atlantic. The name is more interesting than the dish, which is pleasing but plain.

Acqua Pazza (William Grimes) (from today's DIGEST. You may have to scroll down for the appropriate link.)

Isn't that just a little bit risky, given all the modern day pollutants that taint our coastal waters? Has anyone eaten here lately, and what were your impressions of it? The coffee pasta (tagliolini al caffè) and soffiato al limone (a kind of "soufflé brûlée") both sound interesting.

Soba

[ankomochi]

I had a wonderful meat at Acqua Pazza this Monday. I was a bit surprised by Grimes giving only ONE star, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised by it.

When I was seated, they brought out a thin slice of raw catfish dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. I am not too crazy about catfish in general and I had a reservasion eating raw catfish. But, this raw catfish was very good. I was very surprised that the catfish can be very good.

They brought out the basket of bread and chickpeas spread. Each bread was nicely toasted -- very warm. I could taste the hint of butter. Chickpeas spread was very nice, but I was happy to eat the bread without the spread.

Yes, i did have the coffee pasta, Tagliolini al Caffe. It was served with rock shrimps and porcini mushrooms. It is a tasty and great dish, but I thought the sauce from the shriimps and the mushrooms was a little too strong that you cannot really enjoy the flaovr of coffe pasta. It seems as if it does not matter if you are served with coffee pasta or white wheat pasta. Coffee pasta itself has very subtle coffee flaovr, almost you really have to chew out the flavor. Aside from that, it was very delicious pasta dish.

I also had a signiture dish Acqua Pazza, fish is cooked with seawater, olive oil, tomatoes, and sea salt. Very simple; it was fantastic. I do not remember what kind of fish it was that night, but the fish was cooked just right. Very soft and floavorful, not waterly, not too much tomatoes or salt. I am not sure where the seawater came from, how far from the shore. (Could it be from somewhere off the coast of Long Island? )

Let's move onto Desert! I have Baba au Rhum. It was so amazing. I do not have too much experience eating Baba/savarin, but this Baba was so delicious and the best baba I have eaten. You can choose the Rum from three choices. the recomended rum was 15-year-old Haitian rum (I do not know anything about rum, so I cannot comment on too much). Lightly soaked with rum, the sponge cake is served with the shot of the rum, creme brulee, and cherry sauce on the side. I tasted the rum, and it was so smooth. I tasted the cake, it was lightly and nicely soaked with rum and syrup, not soggy and not dry, perfectly moistured. Finally i poured the rum over it. It was heaven; I was in heaven. The baba goes so well with the cherry sauce, too. Creme brulee was very creamy and not too sweet. It was very delicious.

Decore is very simple and the dish is very simple. Did I mention about the service? the service was great -- welcoming and very quick. (It wasn't very crowded that night and I went there around 8pm.) I had a wonderful meal and no complain.

anko

[nervousnelli]

The menu doesn't say it, but someone actually fetches the seawater from the Atlantic. The name is more interesting than the dish, which is pleasing but plain.

Acqua Pazza (William Grimes) (from today's DIGEST. You may have to scroll down for the appropriate link.)

Isn't that just a little bit risky, given all the modern day pollutants that taint our coastal waters?

I was wondering that myself. I live near the Atlantic and think cooking with seawater could be intriguing but would boiling it make it safe? I'm not sure. I just keep thinking about when we're on the beach in the summer and someone has to urinate he either heads up to the restroom shack or jumps in the ocean. And what about the dredges we see offshore frequently? Don't they stir up lots of junk? I'm not sure I want to experiment with seawater cooking unless I can find out more about how they do it at Aqua Pazza.

[Culatello]

Hi guys, I now I'm not in the neck of my woods but I 'd like to respond to this topic.

First of all I'm suprised & happy to see people are educating them self's with Regional Italian dishes ,I'm a Chef & teacher of Italian cuisine in Montreal and also originally from Naples,Aqua Pazza is a great dish if prepared in the right way but like you said the water from the atlantic ain't to safe you need seawater from Il mare tirenio of the coast of Naples.

As for the coffee pasta, I didn't try it but stick to simple, well made,traditional pasta don't complicate life.And porcini with shrimp I find the porcini over power the shrimp,Coffee,shrimp&porcini all powerful ingredients.Which,one of these ingredients is the STAR

But that's my opinion,Who cares anyway,Right

[albie]

I've eaten there three times and find it outstanding for quality and value; restaurants featuring seafood are generally the priciest but Acqua Pazza is exemplary in its restraint in this regard. To sum up the experience, it's about impeccable fresh fish/seafood, simply but imaginatively prepared; pastas are also first rate. The wine list is compact, but well-matched to the food and fairly priced.

[Pan]

Thanks for directing us to this interesting review, Soba, though the place is a bit expensive for me.

I wouldn't worry about Atlantic Ocean water. I mean, do we really think our fresh water is so safe by comparison to ocean water?

[albie]

Grimes' text reads like a two-star review; I find it perplexing that they frequently fail to correlate.

[SobaAddict70]

Grimes' text reads like a two-star review; I find it perplexing that they frequently fail to correlate.

I still have queasy memories of John Dory with a texture like candle wax.

A line like this doesn't seem to me like it would belong in a two-star worthy restaurant.

There are other clues within the review, but the line above is something that was particularly memorable.

Soba