Babbo

[princessre]

Just wanted to chime in since we went to Babbo for the first time last weekend and LOVED it. My favorite was the sweet potato lune-- it was so delicate and melt-in-your-mouth that it rivaled the version I had in Florence years ago. In addition, my husband swooned over the beef cheek ravioli. To top it all off, the peach crostata is easily one of the best desserts I've had anywhere. I had also expected snotty service as some of experienced, but everyone was super nice and even wrote happy anniversary on our dessert plate. My only question is- anyone think the lobster spaghettini is a good choice there? It's one of my favorite dishes, but I dared not order it first time around since I had not heard the greatest things about it.

[SethG]

I had to work at the courthouse on Sunday night, but there wasn't much to do and I got out of there at 9:00 p.m. My family had vacated the city for the weekend and it was a beautiful night, so I just walked uptown without any particular goal in mind until it occurred to me that I might be able to get a seat at the bar at Babbo.

And I got one-- I was lucky to be dining solo. I was seated right away, much to the apparent irritation of several couples waiting for the dining room. One couple walked in right behind me and waited another half hour for seats at the bar.

I felt very grateful for the seat, but as I went in on a whim I had no guidance as to what to order. I went with the mint "love letters" (large ravioli) with lamb sausage to start, and I was very impressed. The portion was very large, and I tried to linger over every bite. The mint presence was much stronger than the sausage; every taste was bright and refreshing, but was balanced by the slight savory element of the sausage and a hint of spiciness in the tomato sauce. I also had the special entree of brined, roasted pork loin topped with onions, in a reduced pork dripping sauce which also contained fennel. This didn't send me quite as much as the mint dish, but it was really satisfying. I finished with the peach crostada. The peach part was great, but I thought the vanilla gelato that came with it stole the show.

I drank two quartinos, one white, the other red. I let the bartender/server help me out there and I wish I could remember more about them.

Music, pretty loud, and definitely in the classic rock vein:

The Who's "You Better You Bet" was playing when I arrived.

Then came the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers (the whole record).

Led Zeppelin (the first album) was most of the way through when I left.

It was a great experience-- now I have to go back with my wife, who is very jealous!

[oakapple]

Music, pretty loud, and definitely in the classic rock vein:

The Who's "You Better You Bet" was playing when I arrived.

Then came the Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers (the whole record).

Led Zeppelin (the first album) was most of the way through when I left.

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They must change the soundtrack about midway through the evening. I have dined at Babbo's bar twice in the last couple of months. Both times, it was pretty early, around 6:00pm. And on neither occasion was loud rock music playing — it was neither rock nor loud.

I second the recommendation for the Mint Love Letters.

[Lreda]

I'm getting here late when I close up my shore house on the 10th of Oct. I'm showing up late and sitting at the bar. I'm ready for a return visit late at night, I always eat early when they're always so professional. I want some party atmosphere and what better way to end two weeks on the ocean than a visit to Babbo.

and they better be playing The Stones, Talking Heads or The Clash like I've been hearing.

[princessre]

Maybe the music is an upstairs/downstairs thing. We sat upstairs and had a perfectly ambient dinner at prime time 8:30pm. Frankly, we appreciated having fine food in lively surroundings- a welcomed change from quite a few anniversary dates in "romantic" libraries.

Edited September 8, 2004 by princessre (log)

[NewYorkTexan]

I can not add much more than what has already been posted by others, it was a fabulous meal. Service was excellent with everyone being engaging, attentive and having a good sense of humor. I was expecting the restaurant to be noisier, but the buzz of other diners and the music (lot of clash and stones) was reasonable. The portion sizes were very generous for a tasting menu, it was an amazing amount of food.

Relying on my memory here…

Black Tagliatelle with roasted sweet corn and chives

(favorite dish of the night)

Ravioli with a smoked cheese

Garganelli with Funghi Trifolati

(close second for favorite dish)

Marco's Pyramids with Passato di Pomodoro

(probably the weak link in the meal)

Pappardelle Bolognese

A cheese course

Saffron Panna Cotta with Kumquats and Tangerine Sorbetto

They then brought us out a bonus dessert, a “jelly donut” than came with ice cream…..it was very good but I needed more food at this point like I needed a hole in my head ( or more realistically a new hole in my belt).

[foodie52]

By the way, last week's Food Issue of the New Yorker had a wonderful article by Bill Buford: he worked the pasta station at Babbo for a week!

Very funny, very insightful and above all, very entertaining.

Edited September 18, 2004 by foodie52 (log)

[robyn]

We ate at Babbo Friday evening. It was the most disappointing meal of our trip.

I'll get some issues out of the way first. We had a reservation and were seated on time. The service was excellent (our main contact server was from the south - Alabama - and she was terrific). Music didn't bother us at all. Babbo only serves Italian wine - so I couldn't have champagne. But the drinks I had were fine. So that wasn't the problem.

The problem was the food. We had 2 dishes that were excellent. The pig's trotter appetizer - which was kind of like the best sausage patty one could imagine - and the beef cheek ravioli (we split the pasta course). The rest was disappointing. My husband's starter - tripe. It was a very large portion - but the way it was sauced - too much mediocre red sauce - too much cheese - it was mediocre at best - kind of looked like and tasted like a boring side of pasta in a boring Italian restaurant (my husband used to eat tripe when he was taking Italian lessons - his teacher - a retired Italian professor - cooked tripe for him - Babbo's wasn''t as good as that).

Mains - sweetbreads and squab - were cooked appropriately. But the saucing was done with the heaviest of hands with the squab. A fruity sauce. Too sweet. Too goopy. Kind of like what I'd expect to get in Jacksonville (where I live) - and go home cursing Jacksonville. And its lack of sophistication. Sweetbread saucing was just blah - kind of brothy. Only thing similar I've seen was at the Fisher Island Club in Miami - and I thought it dismal there. In other words - not refined at all. Just didn't sing.

Again - we split a dessert. I am going from memory here on the whole meal (not copies of menus). Am pretty sure it was a pear crostada. But it was definitely a crostada. And the pastry was like lead. Like what I had at a wedding demo/promo thing at Belk's (a local department store). Extremely mediocre pastry. Unlike the pastry puff at Balthazar's which held my scrambled eggs - the dozens of layers of light flakey pastry. This was just a lump. (I sometimes forgive that in Florida because light and flakey is hard to do when it's 95 and the humidity is 100% - but it was cool and dry in New York this week - no excuses.)

I think when one judges a restaurant - it's expectations versus reality (and cost enters into things too - I'm not saying the restaurant was outrageously overpriced - although cheap it wasn't). But this restaurant got 3 stars from the NYT just a month or so ago. I could understand if it got the 3 stars 5 years ago - and I was just too late - that it was already over the hill (that's happened to me before). But I figure 3 NYT stars equates to about 1-2 Michelin stars - and that's not the caliber of food we ate there. It was simply very uneven - and very clumsy in large part. Like lots of places in New York (and other cities as well of course). So - if there's a big deal here - it wasn't apparent to me. Is this a case where everyone can recognize Frank Bruni - and he gets different food than the rest of us (like the old Ruth Reichl Le Cirque 2000 review)? Got me. Those of you who live in New Yoork probably know better than I do. Robyn

[SobaAddict70]

I'm not exactly a fan of Babbo's mains so I guess I'm the wrong person to ask for a review.

Their pastas on the other hand are quite amazing. Maybe the pasta tasting menu next time?

Soba

[Pan]

Robyn, I'm sorry you had a bad meal. I wouldn't agree that 3 NYT stars=1-2 Michelin stars, though. Or, at any rate, I'm not sure about it. I'll post a question about this in the Bruni thread.

[Mulcahy]

Robyn, sorry you had a bad meal. I have eaten there three times, once without reservations at the bar tables, and never had a bad or iffy dish. I actually think it's the best restaurant in New York I have ever been to. (This includes Veritas, Per Se, Gramercy Tavern and a few other notables.)

[Nathan]

robyn,

you'll find that among NY'ers Babbo is considered to be one of the most reliably good restaurants in the city....dissenting opinions here (including on egullet) are relatively rare.

of course, like any other restaurant, it can have an off day.

I too prefer the pastas to the secondi.

and they do have a nice prosecco selection

Edited October 26, 2004 by Nathan (log)

[robyn]

I'm not exactly a fan of Babbo's mains so I guess I'm the wrong person to ask for a review. 

Their pastas on the other hand are quite amazing.  Maybe the pasta tasting menu next time?

Soba

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I am not exactly an expert when it comes to Italian cuisine. One trip to Italy (3 weeks) - and I'm a decent Italian cook. But I know the structure of a traditional Italian meal - and the pasta is the first course after the starters - and then you have the mains. One of my best meals in Italy skipped the starters - great pasta - and then delicious little roasted birds - sauced very carefully.

So if a restaurant really isn't a winner when it comes to the main courses - is it really an Italian restaurant - or simply a "pasta place"? More importantly - is a supposedly "authentic" Italian restaurant that doesn't do mains well a really great Italian restaurant? I may be ignorant - but I don't think so.

By the way - when I compare the pear dessert I had at Babbo with the one I had at Per Se - well I can't. It's simply pedestrian versus world class. Robyn

[Jason Perlow]

I can't really speak to Babbo's main dishes either as every time I have gone, I have had either the pasta tasting menu or a la carte pasta dishes. Pasta is what Babbo is known for -- and they are indeed excellent.

As to desserts Robyn, you should have left room at nearby OTTO for some of their world-class gelato made by Pastry Chef Meredith Kurtzman:

http://www.egullet.com/index.cgi?pg=jeffrey

[robyn]

I can't really speak to Babbo's main dishes either as every time I have gone, I have had either the pasta tasting menu or a la carte pasta dishes. Pasta is what Babbo is known for -- and they are indeed excellent.

As to desserts Robyn, you should have left room at nearby OTTO for some of their world-class gelato made by Pastry Chef Meredith Kurtzman:

http://www.egullet.com/index.cgi?pg=jeffrey

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So this is a pasta place where everyone who knows knows one should order pasta - and maybe a starter - and skip the main course and the dessert? That's the general consensus? I know I'm ignorant of the NYT rating system - but a restaurant that's mediocre at best in at least 2 of 4 courses doesn't sound like 3 stars to me. I'm not fussing with you - I guess the recent review created certain expectations in my mind which most people here say aren't realistic. Robyn

[SobaAddict70]

Those are my preferences.

What can I say, Mario's entrees don't do it for me. That holds true for me at any of his restaurants. When he was at Po, ditto. Starters are fine, pastas are amazing, on occasion the desserts are worthy. One of these days I'll be converted though.

Now, other people might have different opinions. Just don't count on mine.

Soba

[Nathan]

some of the mains at Babbo are absolutely terrific

others are merely good

I emphasize pastas because you will never have a bad one.

desserts I can't speak to....I don't have a sweet tooth

[Chufi]

Thanks to EGullet me and my husband went to Babbo on our visit to NY. We had no reservation, walked in at 7, and we were seated at 7:35. We had no problem with the waiting, we had a drink at the bar and enjoyed watching the crowd.

I had the beef cheek raviolo thanks to the great reviews of that dish here. It was divine. My husband had the lambs tongues, excellent. He then had the sweetbreads. He loves sweetbreads and always orders them when he sees them on a menu, and he said they were very good (I did not taste - I don't like them). I had the pork with aceto balsamico. The meat was great, I never had a better tasting piece of pork, however I found the balsamic vinegar to be slightly overwhelming. The pork could have used something a bit more subtle to let it's own flavour shine through.

For dessert we shared a peach crostada (sp.?) which was delicious.

Overall the best dining experience in NY and the best dining we had in a long time period!

btw. the Brussels sprouts that one could order as a side dish, looked and smelled fantastic. The table next to us ordered them but did not touch them! I almost asked if I could have them!

[princessre]

Yeah, the entrees I've had so far at Babbo have paled in comparison to the pasta. However, I personally don't mind that Babbo's pastas are stronger, and it certainly does not take away from my impression that it is a phenomenal restaurant. My argument is this- if it were possible to have that quality pasta anywhere else in the US (if it is, I have not run into it), then one might be right to fault them. However, between the pumpkin lune, mint love letters, and braised beef cheek ravioli, I am a big fan of Babbo.

p.s.: Not to mention the pastries are phenomenal for an Italian restaurant.

[SethG]

We went to Babbo last night for my wife's birthday, and had a wonderful time.

We were twenty minutes late because of a subway snafu, but they sat us anyway. We felt very lucky. It seemed pretty sleepy for a Saturday.

We had the pasta tasting menu-- and the server allowed us to sub the beef cheek ravioli for Mario's pyramids.

The pasta is so fantastic at Babbo, I can understand why people prefer it to the mains. But I don't buy the idea that the mains are subpar or out of keeping with the restaurant's 3-star rating. The special entree I had a few months ago was wondefrul.

The whole experience struck just the right note for us. The service was informal but extremely knowledgeable. The meal was well-paced, unhurried. And the mix of dishes and tastes was perfect. (Of course we messed up the balance of the tasting menu by having beef cheek ravioli right before the Bolognese. But so what.)

Music was muted upstairs, but it included Bob Marley, AC/DC, and the Beastie Boys.

[MobyP]

I emphasize pastas because you will never have a bad one.

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Sad to report this isn't the case.

[JeffWilson]

My wife and I are taking my daughter and her boyfriend to Babbo on Saturday night. We are very excited, as I have tried many times to get in but could never get a reservation except for "either 6 PM or 11PM". Although I have heard a million great things about the restuarant, I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions for "can't miss" dishes. My daughter's boyfriend and I are adventurous in our dining, while my daughter and (especially) my wife play it a lot safer. My wife is also a fish-eating vegetarian. Any guidance would be truly appreciated. Thanks!

Jeff

[MonsieurSatran]

The Goat Cheese Tortellini with Fennel Pollen and Orange Zest is absolutely riveting.... Branzino was also quite good, but I would not put it only my must-order list.

[richl2214]

I second the Goat Cheese Tortellini...heaven on a plate.

I'd recommend starting with a glass of Prosecco.

Appetizers: Grilled Octopus is fantastic as are the steamed cockles

Pastas: As above the tortellinis are a can't miss. I also recommend the mint love letters or the beef cheek ravioli

Entree: The grilled pork chop will rank with one of the best you will ever have. The branzino is also fantastic and quite simple. I also loved the Spicy Two Minute Calamari. Very light dish and perect compliment of flavors. For a side the roasted garlic rapini is perfect.

Dessert: The sweet corn crema or any crostata. Make sure to get a glass of Brachetto for dessert

Edited November 30, 2004 by richl2214 (log)

[Stone]

If you like Sweetbreads or have ever considered trying them, this is your opportunity. I'd never had them before, went over to Babbo and ate them at the bar. They were amazine. I've had them a few times since, and none were as good.