Babbo

[BryanZ]

Squab livers in the beef cheek sauce, makes it marginally more offal-y. The beef cheek was my favorite dish. I was very tempted to go with the goose liver ravioli, but the beef cheek is such a classic.

Edited May 22, 2007 by BryanZ (log)

[ulterior epicure]

Squab livers in the beef cheek sauce, makes it marginally more offal-y.  The beef cheek was my favorite dish.  I was very tempted to go with the goose liver ravioli, but the beef cheek is such a classic.

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That's right. Thanks for reminding me. The squab liver definitely tips the definition more appropriately into the offal category.

[Megan Blocker]

So it sounds like you all are suggesting offal, not a pasta tasting menu anymore? I've promised to take a friend for a pasta tasting menu when he defends his dissertation. He's been to Al Di La' (actually, both of us have, separately). Will he be disappointed by comparison? Neither of us have ever been to Babbo.

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I really enjoyed the pasta tasting menu I had in February 2006, and the individual pastas I've had since then (last time before April, though, was last August). However, there were a couple of dishes (the calamari and the lobster pasta) that disappointed on my last visit. That said, it's definitely still worth going. We ended up sort of making our own tasting, sharing three pastas and two mains between three of us...

[Nathan]

last night we had an excellent special....get it while they still have it.

porchetta with braised fennel. add some brussel sprouts with pancetta for a contorini and you have one heck of a dish...

[AvsKick21]

last night we had an excellent special....get it while they still have it.

porchetta with braised fennel.  add some brussel sprouts with pancetta for a contorini and you have one heck of a dish...

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If I remember the bartender correctly, it's offered every Sunday fall-winter as Sunday is the only day they have the oven space to do it.

[kathryn]

Going for the first time tonight and thinking of ordering this, for two:

1. lamb's tongue

2. octopus

3. mint love letters

4. goose liver ravioli (or should we do beef cheek?)

5. sweetbreads

6. seasonal crostata

Spaghettini with lobster, gnocchi sound good too. Boyfriend will probably NOT be into lamb's brains.

Orecchiette or linguine sounds nice as well but I am halfway through Heat by Bill Buford and just read the pasting making chapter, so I have those on the brain right now.

[ulterior epicure]

Going for the first time tonight and thinking of ordering this, for two:

1. lamb's tongue

2. octopus

3. mint love letters

4. goose liver ravioli (or should we do beef cheek?)

5. sweetbreads

6. seasonal crostata

Spaghettini with lobster, gnocchi sound good too. Boyfriend will probably NOT be into lamb's brains.

Orecchiette or linguine sounds nice as well but I am halfway through Heat by Bill Buford and just read the pasting making chapter, so I have those on the brain right now.

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Speaking of brains, the lambs brains 'francobolli' is another good pasta. I had the beef cheek pasta. Though the pasta was excellent, I found the ragu rather boring. Go with the goosse liver ravioli.

[kathryn]

...I figure I should at least try the beef cheek ravioli once in my lifetime to see what all the fuss is about.

[ulterior epicure]

...I figure I should at least try the beef cheek ravioli once in my lifetime to see what all the fuss is about.

I didn't realize that anyone was making a fuss about these, particularly.

Otherwise, I guess, from my one experience, I didn't think they were worth fussing over.

[Nathan]

goose liver is better.

[vivin]

kathryn,

don't overlook the specials. they are always good.

[The Naughti Literati]

Going for the first time tonight and thinking of ordering this, for two:

1. lamb's tongue

2. octopus

3. mint love letters

4. goose liver ravioli (or should we do beef cheek?)

5. sweetbreads

6. seasonal crostata

Spaghettini with lobster, gnocchi sound good too. Boyfriend will probably NOT be into lamb's brains.

Orecchiette or linguine sounds nice as well but I am halfway through Heat by Bill Buford and just read the pasting making chapter, so I have those on the brain right now.

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I read Heat when it was first published and the Love Letters stick out in my mind, probably because it's much tamer than some of the other offerings - I don't blame your boyfriend one bit. LOL Looking forward to your review!

[dougw]

I've loved every meal I've eaten at Babbo.

But I was shocked when I was served a watery, bitter espresso. I'm probably one of nine people in the world who cares, but still. You go to a place where no detail is overlooked, you expect the espresso to be on the level.

[kathryn]

goose liver is better.

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You win. Totally life-changing pasta moment, overshadowing most of the other dishes IMO. Can't wait to go back to Babbo.

[jm chen]

A little lucky magic got us two seats at the bar Saturday night. Sicilian lifeguard calamari, mint love letters, black spaghetti with rock shrimp and sausage, a massive pork chop with cherry peppers, and pine nut crostata.

Soooo good.

[Nathan]

that pea sformato is much more subtle and less earthy than the norm for Babbo dishes. it's also terrific.

the pigs foot Milanese was too greasy, dry and tasting too much of breading.

pastas are as good as ever.

[Sneakeater]

Two words.

Pancetta ripieno.

[Nathan]

there's a newish pasta on the menu...strichetti with lamb and pecorino...that's just sensational.

[gatilgan]

I'll be visiting Babbo tomorrow. The previous and first time I have been to Babbo, I had tasting menu.This time I'd be picking from the menu and look forward to your recommendations for "must-to have dishes".

Thanks

[kathryn]

Assuming you are adventurous/don't mind offal, I'd do for the appetizers: the lamb's tongue vinaigrette with three minute egg, crispy pig's foot (don't worry, it doesn't really look like a foot), grilled octopus, or tripe (comes with bread, very messy). If you are trying to save space, the salumi plates are also very good but a much smaller portion. You can get the salumi they make in-house (prosciutto, lamb's tongue, lardo, spicy salami, and more) or the salumi that Mario Batali's father makes (slightly smaller selection, still very good). It's all great, though, and at the very worst, you'll wish you brought more people with you, so you can try more things out.

For pastas, I love the goose liver ravioli the most and so has everyone I've ever taken there. Others like the beef cheek ravioli, chianti stained parpadelle, gnocchi with oxtail, or mint love letters, but I think the goose liver wins over those four -- to me it is perfection (still haven't tried the lamb's brains yet though). Personally, I am not a huge red sauce fan and though the gnocchi and mint love letters were good but not great. (IMO Hearth's gnocchi are better) But YMMV.

For the main, the fennel-dusted sweetbreads are fantastic. The pork chop is excellent: well-cooked and juicy. Quite large. Easily split between two. The rabbit is also nice, too. The skirt steak is only OK, stay away from that one. Not that it's bad but not as great as the others. I've also heard wonderful things about the duck and lamb chop. There are often very good specials too (had some excellent and tender braised pork cheeks once time).

Save room for dessert. If you are very full, you can get the assortment of gelati and sorbetti. A trip in early summer yielded: olive oil gelato (perfect as usual), hazelnut gelato, bittersweet chocolate gelato (so intense, and dark, like a punch in the face with chocolate), espresso gelato (so smooth and gone in about two seconds flat), coconut gelato (wonderful even if you don't like coconut), pineapple sorbetto (nice and sweet), green apple sorbetto (sharp and tart but refreshing), rhubarb sorbetto (very tart), mango sorbetto (addictive and reminiscent of Indian mangos), and huckleberry sorbetto (nice and with bits of real huckleberry). I also like the seasonal fruit crostata (right now it is still Tristar strawberry hopefully although it may have changed, strawberry season will be over with the first frost in the autumn). The chocolate hazelnut cake is also nice. Other popular desserts are the maple cheesecake or the semifreddo. And the petit fours are pretty good too.

Have fun!

[Sneakeater]

Kathryn: you really owe it to yourself to try the lamb's brains.

[Nathan]

twas there the other night and the finocherretti (sp.?) was a very nice pasta.

I haven't had it in a couple years, but the "Sicilian Lifeguard Calamari" is excellent.

[gatilgan]

Assuming you are adventurous/don't mind offal, I'd do for the appetizers: the lamb's tongue vinaigrette with three minute egg, crispy pig's foot (don't worry, it doesn't really look like a foot), grilled octopus, or tripe (comes with bread, very messy). If you are trying to save space, the salumi plates are also very good but a much smaller portion. You can get the salumi they make in-house (prosciutto, lamb's tongue, lardo, spicy salami, and more) or the salumi that Mario Batali's father makes (slightly smaller selection, still very good). It's all great, though, and at the very worst, you'll wish you brought more people with you, so you can try more things out.

For pastas, I love the goose liver ravioli the most and so has everyone I've ever taken there. Others like the beef cheek ravioli, chianti stained parpadelle, gnocchi with oxtail, or mint love letters, but I think the goose liver wins over those four -- to me it is perfection (still haven't tried the lamb's brains yet though). Personally, I am not a huge red sauce fan and though the gnocchi and mint love letters were good but not great. (IMO Hearth's gnocchi are better) But YMMV.

For the main, the fennel-dusted sweetbreads are fantastic. The pork chop is excellent: well-cooked and juicy. Quite large. Easily split between two. The rabbit is also nice, too. The skirt steak is only OK, stay away from that one. Not that it's bad but not as great as the others. I've also heard wonderful things about the duck and lamb chop. There are often very good specials too (had some excellent and tender braised pork cheeks once time).

Save room for dessert. If you are very full, you can get the assortment of gelati and sorbetti. A trip in early summer yielded: olive oil gelato (perfect as usual), hazelnut gelato, bittersweet chocolate gelato (so intense, and dark, like a punch in the face with chocolate), espresso gelato (so smooth and gone in about two seconds flat), coconut gelato (wonderful even if you don't like coconut), pineapple sorbetto (nice and sweet), green apple sorbetto (sharp and tart but refreshing), rhubarb sorbetto (very tart), mango sorbetto (addictive and reminiscent of Indian mangos), and huckleberry sorbetto (nice and with bits of real huckleberry). I also like the seasonal fruit crostata (right now it is still Tristar strawberry hopefully although it may have changed, strawberry season will be over with the first frost in the autumn). The chocolate hazelnut cake is also nice. Other popular desserts are the maple cheesecake or the semifreddo. And the petit fours are pretty good too.

Have fun!

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Kathryn, thanks for the detailed recommendations.

We went to Babbo the night when they lost their Michelin star.

From antipasti section, we had grilled octopus, lamb's tongue, daily special of duck bresaola with celery root sformato and salumi. Octopus was very good, cooked perfectly, nicely charred outside and soft and juicy inside. Lamb's tongue was good but I didn't find that much offaly, I was expecting (for some reason) more tongue flavor. I think I did like the most daily special of duck bresaola with celery root sformato. This was very similar to sweet pea sformato I had at Babbo which was included in traditional tasting menu last year. The sformato was topped with granny smith apple and celery shavings and extremely delicious and light.

From the primi, we had goose liver ravioli, beef cheek ravioli, pappardelle bolognese and pumpkin lune with sage and amaretto.

I did like most goose liver ravioli. I did mop the remaining balsamic and butter sauce to make sure the plate was clean and shiny.

Beef cheek ravioli was good but did not find quite good and original as goose liver ravioli. Pappardelle and pumpkin lune were very solid.

We did skip the secondi and shared cheese platter and "Saffron Panna Cotta with Quince, Pink Peppercorn and Quince Sorbetto" which was very good.

Overall, it was a very good meal.

Edited October 13, 2008 by gatilgan (log)

[kathryn]

Sneakeater, you were right on the lamb's brains. I still like the goose liver ravioli most overall, though.

Schiacciata d'Uva (concord grapes!) last night was amazing. We should have ordered two.

[Shmily]

I am looking for feedback and opinions...We have eaten many times at all Mr Bitali's places except for Del Posto..Babbo is my son's favorite and we go at least for his birthday once a year...Food is ALWAYS very good...sometimes we have had wonderful service...sometimes the waiters are very condescending. We had a so so waiter..and a really poor wine expert...he was unpleasant and did not seem to be familiar with the wines (to our astonishment)...the wine he brought was not to our liking but since it was opened we kept it and said nothing...what is one supposed to do?? I wrote a letter to Mr Bitali last week...I wonder if he will get it and if he will answer it...any opinions?? Thanks....