Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

[Wilfrid]

I don't eat a lot of pizza, so I looked at a couple of unremarkable take-out pizza joints around midtown today. Small pies start at around $9.50/$10. Mario's apparently start at $8. God forbid we should complain about a bargain, but I am still having trouble understanding this. In the nice weather, he might put a stand outside selling eighty cent slices.

[Fat Guy]

I don't eat a lot of pizza, so I looked at a couple of unremarkable take-out pizza joints around midtown today.  Small pies start at around $9.50/$10.  Mario's apparently start at $8.  God forbid we should complain about a bargain, but I am still having trouble understanding this.  In the nice weather, he might put a stand outside selling eighty cent slices.

Mario's pies are extremely small, thin, and light. I'd hazard a guess that a standard pizzeria's small pie is 4-6 times as much actual food as an Otto pie. Not that I think quantity is the only consideration -- the quality of ingredients is far more important -- but to call the pies at Otto a bargain seems like a stretch.

[Fat Guy]

Just to clarify: I'm a big fan of thin pizzas.  I've not been to Naples, but in Florence and Venice I loved the thin pizza bases.   My complaint was that the base of my pizza at Otto last night did not have any flavor.  Also, I'm not a big fan of tons of toppings. Last, g. noted that the base of his pizza was a lot drier than mine, so at the moment there appears to be inconsistency.  No big deal, the place has just opened.

Clearly, I've made assumptions about your tastes that are incorrect. Nonetheless, I thank you for getting me to organize my thoughts about the pizza at Otto, at least insofar as they can be organized based on so little data. I haven't had pizza in Italy since I was a kid, but I'm familiar enough with the technical specifications of real Neapolitan pizza to know what it's supposed to be like, and I've spoken to enough Americans who came back from Naples saying "the pizza at Patsy's is so much better," to be able to form an opinion about American pizza tastes. I think the variety that is served at Otto, Serafina, and Pizza Fresca, comes very close to Neapolitan authenticity but doesn't necessarily have widespread appeal here. Americans on the whole (and here I'm talking about the subset of Americans that bothers to seek out good pizza) want char, seasoning, and body. I have to say, at the risk of sounding provincial, so do I. In my opinion, Mario's success at his other restaurants has resulted from the studied merger of authenticity and inauthenticity. He knows how to capture the spirit of Italian cuisine in a way that pleases American palates. That's why a place like Babbo, which doesn't have many recognizably Italian dishes on the menu, nonetheless feels more Italian than most any other restaurant in New York.

[Steve Klc]

A wonderful hypothesis this:

"In my opinion, Mario's success at his other restaurants has resulted from the studied merger of authenticity and inauthenticity. He knows how to capture the spirit of Italian cuisine in a way that pleases American palates."

I wonder what role pleasing himself plays in all this and whether pleasing American palates is merely coincidental?

[Stephanie]

All these posts made me so eager that I HAD to go for lunch this afternoon. I took a late lunch, around 2:00, and the back room was half empty, making it a pleasant, relaxing time to go. The service was very solicitous and made this singleton diner feel very much at home.

Now for the food: I had the cauliflower alla Siciliana antipasto. It was room temperature (as I think all the vegetables are), and the cauliflower had been cooked with olive oil, sauteed onions, capers, and I believe red pepper flakes. It could have used a touch more salt, but overall it was flavorful and the cauliflower was nice and tender.

I tried to order the funghi & Taleggio pizza but was told that they were out of Taleggio. The staff was accomodating in putting together a Margherita pizza with mushrooms on top, but the mushroom addition was a $5 surcharge, which seems a bit much considering that the base pizza itself is only $10. I've never had authentic Neapolitan pizza, so I wasn't quite used to the texture of the pliable, chewy, almost elastic crust, but I overall I enjoyed it very much.

I was tempted to get the hot chocolate, but went for the gelato instead. I had the hazelnut with chocolate chips and the orange-cinnamon. As Suvir related, the orange-cinnamon did have sherry-soaked golden raisins, and the cinnamon was like a ribbon on top of the ice cream (it looked like caramel sauce).

The wine list is quite long, though there was not much available by the glass. I didn't partake in any wine this time though. Suvir & FG did such a good job describing the decor that anything I could add would be superfluous.

Interesting that this week started with a trip to DiFara's and ended up here. DiFara's to me is the ultimate Italian-American pizza experience (the kind of neighborhood place everyone should have), and Otto is a like a little slice of Italy.

[rstarobi]

I went to Otto for a late lunch yesterday. As everyone has said, service was polite, friendly and very accomodating. I was dining alone and was placed at a central table in the back room, with a great view of the rest of the room.

I ordered the Quattro Formaggi pizza (Mozzarella, Calcio, Taleggio & 1 other, which is escaping me right now). The pizza was very much to my taste - Yvonne, the crust reminded me of a more toothsome matzoh. The sauce was the real kicker for me - it practically sparkled in my mouth. I let myself be talked into having the orange cinnamon gelato with the sherry raisins, which was absolutely decadent.

Only complaint with the restaurant: while I understand that Mario is going for the Italian Authentic Experience, which leads to an enormous wine list, the beer list is significantly less interesting: two beers by the Brooklyn Brewery - an amber and a blonde. My waitress said that they were specially made for Otto - though the amber tasted like standard Brooklyn Amber.

[weinoo]

I've been to Otto twice now, first time w/wife, 2nd time large group, and imo the food is yummy - excellent quality ingredients used just as they should be. I think aside from all the celebrity chef crap, MB, JB, and JD really care about the sourcing of raw materials, and that makes all the diff...then, without doing much to the raw materials, they get turned into good, if not at times, great food - sort of what they do in Italy.

Add to that the service they're doing by presenting an awesome Italian wine list (a few more by the quartino, please!), reasonable prices (there are no less than 10 reds $21 or under), and a professional front of the house and you kind of figure these guys know what they're doing!

Perhaps that's why their restaurants are always crowded as well? I, for sure, will be back.

Edited January 12, 2003 by weinoo (log)

[201]

So I guess I'm officially trendy now, but after reading so much about this place in such a short time, I just had to go. Of course, having gone, I now have to go back many times!

Of the anitpasti I sampled, the white beans really caught my attention. There was just something about the way the smooth surface broke with my bite and revealed the texture within that was especially satisfying. A very simple dish, but obviously using very high quality ingredients and executed with a skilled hand... I think that pretty well sums up the theme of Otto.

The highlight of the meat offerings was certainly the salami. Apparently it's made in house which is one of many hooks ensuring that I will be going back to Otto for a fix. This isn't the sort of stuff which you simply chew and swallow and exclaim, "That's pretty good." This is the sort that lands on your tongue and you don't want to let it go for a long time because you're afraid you might not ever be able to taste another piece!

A pizza that gave me a similar reaction was the oil, garlic, and hot pepper pizza. As the name suggests, this is simply a pizza crust with oil and sliced garlic/pepporocini, but it was hands down my favorite dish of the evening. The smile on my face while I ate slice after slice was just uncontrollable. There's a heat to this pizza which might not be for everyone, but I thought it was simply perfect. The garlic slices were likely cooked somewhat beforehand because they added their flavor to the oil without being overpowering.

The pepperoni pizza was probably my second favorite and one of only three (of eight sampled) that had a red sauce. This is the sort of sauce I wish they had on New Haven pizza. It's subtle enough to not throw the balance, but it still has a distinct character of its own. Otto uses it very sparingly, it almost seems as though it's often there simply to color the crust. I would personally prefer a little more sauce, but I guess I'll find out next time whether they'll accomodate that request.

The crust, as Rstarobi pointed out, calls to mind a toothsome matzoh. It's cracker thin and not doughy at all. While I like this style, it does make for some problems if one chooses to divide a slice into smaller portions. A small pizza slicer at each table would not be an unwelcome addition, as the pizzas seemed to be sliced rather unevenly.

The only pizza which I wouldn't recommend was one with clams IN THE SHELL as a topping. The consensus at the table seemed to be that the presentation was showboating for the sake of showboating. I could've done without it, but it was an isolated incident and I'm not a seafood eater, so I didn't have to deal with it anyway!

With dessert I ordered a hazelnut hot chocolate which stands as my new benchmark for what hot chocolate should be! Extreeeeeeeemely rich. As hot as it was in the back room, this was hot chocolate to be enjoyed during a heat wave. I didn't receive the cookies that Suvir got with his hot chocolate, but I can't say I missed them because I was too busy enjoying the drink by itself. I don't care what else is on the breakfast menu, because I'm showing up for the hot chocolate!

All in all, a VERY good experience at Otto. Sure, it's loud and a bit hot in the back room (cooler in front), but it's definitely worth a repeat visit (or thirty).

[Rachel Perlow]

I was there last night as well. My favorite was definitely the funghi & tellegio. It had a wonderfully rich intense aroma which permeated the restaurant. Jason called it “sex on a plate.” BklynEats: definitely go back to try this one.

I agree with 201 about the clam pizza – note to MB: please shuck the clams.

Gelati, made in-house by the Pastry Chef, were dense and sweet. I had the Meyer lemon and huckleberry and the orange cinnamon with raisins. I thought Jason’s order of chocolate would be boring, but it was the most un-boring chocolate imaginable. Next time I plan on trying the lemon sorbetto with vanilla gelato. Mmm.

[Jinmyo]

Re the clams, not to speak for St. Mario but I know that he has a standard retort that "Italians like to see the shells, to know the seafood is fresh." Maybe so. But on a pizza?

[tommy]

clams in shells are pretty much the standard i'd say. i mean, when i order linguini with clam sauce, i fully expect the clams to be in shells.

however, in this particular application, it seems odd to have to remove the unopened clams before eating the pizza. for some reason, in a bouillabaisse or pasta dish it's no big deal (although i wouldn't expect to have to pick out many deaduns at Esca or Babbo). perhaps the kitchen can chuck, rather than shuck, the unopened clams before sending the pizza out to the table?

my thoughts on the place are mixed. i haven't really put them together yet. however, as 201 mentioned, the garlic and hot pepper pizza made a real impression on me. so much so that i attempted a version today, which actually came out pretty good. the simplicity of the dish struck me. i sensed sweet, spicy, salty, and sour elements. it was really quite special.

i probably won't return for dinner. but for lunch it seems like a good choice. then again, it's so inexpensive that for a fun dinner with an interesting selection of wines, it might be spot on. (see above about me not having my thoughts together yet )

the heat of the back room, coupled with the volume, made the dinner slightly uncomfortable. the volume made it very difficult to enjoy conversation with more than perhaps 3 people at a table. the back room might be suited for 4 tops rather than larger groups. the middle room, however, seemed more intimate. but, it's a runway for servers and people traveling to the rest room. the bar area in the front seemed very suited to hold the many people who will no doubt be waiting for a table every night, given their no-reservation for parties less than 7 policy. a nice little money-maker i'd guess.

the service was very friendly. if our server was representative of the rest of the crew, then i'm impressed. friendly, eager, sharp, and on the ball. the bus peeps, however, were a little rough around the edges. but in fairness to them, the table was situated in such a way that service was difficult.

water was filled up non-stop, which i like.

mrs. tommy spoke with joe b briefly. he seemed flustered overall and said something like "getting restaurant off the ground is a fucking nightmare. i can't believe i'm doing it again." (paraphrased of course). but i'm sure he's loving it.

Edited January 12, 2003 by tommy (log)

[Fat Guy]

Won't it be interesting to read what the newspapers and magazines say about Otto, when they finally catch up with eGullet?

[Haggis]

Fat Guy, could I ask you to go out on a limb and say where you feel Otto's pizza ranks compared with your top picks as mentioned in this pizza article? There you rank your top 5 as Patsy's, Candido, Nick's, DeNino's, and DiFara. Might the pizza at Otto's fit somewhere in your top 5, thus supplanting one of the above? It may be too early for you to feel you can fairly rank Otto's pizza, so I will accept any ranking you may assign it as a very preliminary ranking. Thanks.

[jhlurie]

So I guess I'm officially trendy now

Trendy? Eeek! Hope not!

Of the anitpasti I sampled, the white beans really caught my attention.

Of the vegetarian offerings, I liked the Sweet Onion antipasti as well.

The highlight of the meat {antipasti} offerings was certainly the salami.

Yes. Very expensive, relatively, but it was well worth it. I was racking my brain trying to figure out where I'd tasted salami like that before, and "nowhere" seems to answer that question.

A pizza that gave me a similar reaction was the oil, garlic, and hot pepper pizza.  As the name suggests, this is simply a pizza crust with oil and sliced garlic/pepporocini, but it was hands down my favorite dish of the evening.

This was hands down the best pizza in my judgement as well--although the pepperoni was really close. The prosciutto pizza was fairly impressive too.

The only pizza which I wouldn't recommend was one with clams IN THE SHELL as a topping

I was somewhat underwhelmed by the bacon pizza as well. It was kind of dry.

One service complaint I had was that we literally had to beg for bread at the table, and at first they brought an obscenely small amount for the size party I was with. Later, we begged for Olive Oil, and again they brought a miniscule amount, but at least that I kind of understood since it tasted like it was VERY expensive (and very good) oil.

As for the gelato, I had what had to be the most bizarre gelato I've ever heard of--Olive Oil Gelato with fresh Blood Orange slices. I'm not sure I can describe the taste, except to say that it was NOT what I expected. I'm not sure if it was the same Olive Oil we got with the bread, but it was very fruity, very rich and wonderfully smooth as ice cream. There may have been something else in the mix as well, because there was also a slightly spicy aftertaste.

Edited January 12, 2003 by jhlurie (log)

[Fat Guy]

Patsy's, Candido, Nick's, DeNino's, and DiFara. Might the pizza at Otto's fit somewhere in your top 5, thus supplanting one of the above?

At this time I wouldn't choose the pizza at Otto over the pizza at any of those places (not to mention several others). Now if you want to get into some of the unusual toppings, that's another issue. As I said, Otto's ingredients are fantastic. But just plain old pizza with mozz and red sauce? No, I don't think Otto is currently in the elite category when measured with that yardstick. Which isn't to say the pizza won't be improved. Cook the crusts a little longer, increase seasoning throughout, apply toppings with a slightly more generous hand, and increase the zapping time under the broiler at the end . . . do all that and you've got pizza I'd want to champion.

[Wilfrid]

The wine list is quite long, though there was not much available by the glass.

In fact, there is no wine available by the glass. Not one - which, given the fact Otto bills itself as an enoteca as well as pizzeria, is kind of annoying. The 25cl measure is the smallest they will pour. Despite being a lush, I didn't really want a third of a bottle with my early Saturday lunch, and I felt sorry for the barman who had to refuse a glass of wine to a series of solo eaters.

The bar area certainly looks nice, and they'll be able to pack a crowd around those high marbles counters, but on Saturday morning it was thankfully tranquil. The food? Yes, I've eaten pizza in Italy within recent memory, and the style is authentic, except that I found the dough very under-seasoned. Get ready for some serious chewing as well; it is thin, tough, and I'm not sure it's very "pliable". It does have the kind of char I would expect on an Italia pie; sort of black blisters here and there.

I don't get the division of pizza list into "Otto" pizzas and "classical" pizzas. Quattro formaggi strikes me as fairly classical, and that was on the Otto list. I ordered it, deliberately looking for a fairly straightforward pie rather than one of the more imaginative efforts. Cabrales asked a very pertinent question earlier about whether toppings could be mixed on the same pie; since the answer seems to be no, this - along with the wine policy - makes the deal a little unattractive to singles. Maybe it's just me and pizza, but I was bored with the sameness of the pie after the first couple of slices. One of the cheeses was enjoyably assertive (I didn't note the names), but the others were fairly bland.

Also, pizza is a dish which lends itself pre-eminently to being served on a pan or hot metal plate. These are served on regular dinner plates (that was the size; the pizzas certainly didn't strike me as "very small"), and guess what - it was stone cold by the time I'd eaten half.

I did enjoy a beet, horseradish and walnut salad, which seemed to have a little splash of orange juice in the dressing. Refreshing. I'd be interested to go back and try the salumi and some side dishes.

[cabrales]

New York magazine's coverage of Otto:

http://www.metronewyork.com/content/03/wk0...03/openings.htm

Of course, members' coverage was more informative.

[macrosan]

New York magazine's coverage of Otto....

Of course, members' coverage was more informative. 

I did pick up two curious points from that review which were missing from this thread.

First is that Batali uses lard to cook or prepare at least some of his pizzas. I've never heard of this being done before. Is this common in the USA ? I hope he doesn't indicate on the menu that any of these pizzas are vegetarian, or he could suffer the fate of MacDonalds

Second was that there is a permanently reserved table for the opartners This seems very twee and cliquish, and quite out of style with what everyone here describes as the general style of the place. Why on earth would they do such a thing ? What kind of statement does it make, and to whom ?

Incidentally, what does lavash-thin mean ?

[Rachel Perlow]

I did pick up two curious points from that review which were missing from this thread.

First is that Batali uses lard to cook or prepare at least some of his pizzas. I've never heard of this being done before. Is this common in the USA ? I hope he doesn't indicate on the menu that any of these pizzas are vegetarian, or he could suffer the fate of MacDonalds  

Second was that there is a permanently reserved table for the opartners    This seems very twee and cliquish, and quite out of style with what everyone here describes as the general style of the place. Why on earth would they do such a thing ? What kind of statement does it make, and to whom ?

Point 1 - The Lardo is a pizza topping. Kind of like bacon on the pizza crust. The article didn't say that lard is used to make the crust.

Point 2 - The article indicated that the permanently reserved table is for the (four) owners' (seven) children. I thought it was a cute point, but I bet if the house is full and the kids aren't expected, they'd lose their table. I can't imagine in a place that busy an empty table wouldn't be very obvious.

[macrosan]

Rachel, the article says "The nineteen everyday pies...are divided into Otto and Classica categories, the former imbued with delicious Bataliana like shaved bottarga and lardo (or pork fatback, also known as pure cholesterol). ". I read that as meaning all the "Otto" category pizzas are "imbued with lard". Am I totally misreading this ?

[Bux]

Rachel, the article says "The nineteen everyday pies...are divided into Otto and Classica categories, the former imbued with delicious Bataliana like shaved bottarga and lardo (or pork fatback, also known as pure cholesterol). ". I read that as meaning all the "Otto" category pizzas are "imbued with lard". Am I totally misreading this ?

Totally. Only one pizza has fatback on it. There are quite a few others, perhaps on both sides of the menu that have high cholesterol items including cheese, but lardo was only an example of the unusual toppings.

Mario, stop lurking and post a menu already.

[Fat Guy]

In case anybody missed it in Rachel's post, the restaurant does have a Web site (though there's nothing much on it):

http://ottopizzeria.com/

[cabrales]

The New York Post on Otto:

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/nycuis...rants/66638.htm

"OTTO (Oh-toe) means eight. 'Our first inclination was to call it eight pigs,' says Mario Batali, 'but no one could pronounce the Italian word for pigs.' . . . . pizzas in 19 varieties ($14 tops), divided into classics, like Margherita with buffalo mozzarella, and specials, like pizza with lardo (house-cured pork fatback) ...."

Have members had the pizza with lardo?

[cabrales]

I had an average-to-good-minus meal at Otto recently. Note that I am not knowledgeable about Italian cuisine; my experience with that cuisine has been, by choice, very limited.

I arrived at the restaurant at 9:30 pm, and was told the wait on this Thursday night would be approximately 1 hour. I proceeded to seek a seat at the approx 15-20-capacity bar area. The advantages of the bar area are that the full Otto menu is available to be ordered, and seats are not allocated by the receptionist like tables are. In the standing-room marble table area to the left of the entrance and before the bar, pizzas are not available. I secured a bar seat within 15 minutes, as I was fairly proactive. The bar has a grey marble countertop, and little orangish suspended lights illuminating it.

I began with an order of anchovies. The anchovies tasted good, and were curled up alongside hardish small pieces of crusty bread that had been soaked heavily in olive oil. The bread was apparently from Sullivan Bakery, and was not inappropriate with the anchovies. However, there were too many bread pieces relative to the limited amount of anchovies. The anchovies tasted good, and were entwined with strands of scallion-like material.

Next, I had the eggplant caponatina -- similar to an eggplant relish, with bits of onions, red pepper, neutral capers, pine nuts, orange zest and interesting sweetish raisins. An interesting sweetish taste with a slight aftertaste of chili-like sensations. Elements of acidity were limited, but offset the sweetness a bit. This was a nice composition, although it was slightly sweet for my taste.

The porcini and taleggio pizza I ordered was at best average for my taste. The crust was very dry, and reminded me of unduly dry pita bread. This was aided, near the center of the pizza, by the melted cheese, but near the edges there was a noticeable dry aspect that I found to be a problem. The porcinis were sufficiently moist on a standalone basis, and had been cut into medium diced chunks. The utilization of flat leaf parsley (although not traditional, to my knowledge) was nice and refreshing. The taleggio was fine, but this cheese lacked a certain oiliness and fattiness that I like on pizza and that was certainly necessary on the dry pita-like crust on this particular pizza. Perhaps a very small dribble of olive oil on top of the cheese might have been helpful (??).

I ordered scungilli, which were described as being akin to large, conch-like snails. When presented, the scungilli had been sliced up (large slices) and tasted like conch, but without much flavor. Significantly, there was too much thickish oil coating the scungilli slices, although the use of celery and a small amount of chilli bits (?) as accompaniments was not inappropriate. I did not like this dish.

The gelato was good. I ordered the two-scoop version of the gelato -- Meyer lemon and huckelberry; and hazelnut with chocolate. The flavors were nicely balanced. One service issue arose in connection with the gelato. Since the minimum purchase was two scoops (which could be of different flavors), I asked the bar team member for two different scoops to each be placed in its own metal cup to avoid the mixing of the flavors. This was apparently a problem, and I ended up receiving two scoops of each flavor in each cup (for the charge of a single two-scoop order). However, this solution by the bar team member showed an inflexibility that surprised me. Why could there not be a single scoop of each flavor, in separate cups?

Other gelato flavors available on the night in question were: campari and grapefruit; chocolate; vanilla; caramel.

I overheard the names of an Otto maitre d' and general manager: Amanda and Caroline, I believe.

Much of the above assessment reflects my subjective preference for other cuisines. While the Otto pricing is good, I could not say I am eager to return any time soon.

Edited January 17, 2003 by cabrales (log)

[muon]

For those of you who have eaten there already, how long did you have to wait to be seated? Any idea on how long it may take to get a table on a weeknight?

I dined at Otto on Tuesday night. We arrived about 9pm. The hostesses informed us the wait for two would be between 45 minutes and one hour. Our wait was actually about 30 minutes -- given the size of the dining room, I would say they do have a steady clip of tables turning. We waited in the full, but not overcrowded, bar area at a standing table. It took about 5 minutes for a cocktail waitress to stop by; we could have sought out our drinks or perhaps motioned for a waitress to come over, but we were engrossed in conversation and getting drinks was not a priority.

Their waitlisting system struck me as odd, perhaps cutesy, and slightly annoying -- not one that I've experienced before. Upon providing your name and size of party, you're handed a brightly colored piece of paper (matching the interior decor), with an italian word pre-printed on it. I'm extremely sub-lingual in Italian, so I don't know what the words reflect (and also perhaps because of my initial annoyance at the system), I don't recall what our 'word' was. The hostesses man a chalkboard, and when your table is ready, they'll write the word printed on your piece of paper on the chalkboard, along with the size of your party and a time -- I don't recall if the time written reflects the point at which your name is listed on the board, or perhaps it's the time when you'll be taken off the board (presume a no-show) for the next waiting party.

The part of all this that annoyed me is that the restaurant was crowded, the word was not in my lexicon, so I had to continually divert attention from conversation with my dining companion, to the pre-printed piece of paper (to remind myself what the word was), to the chalkboard, to see if our table was ready. The hostesses do not *seem* to actively seek out parties when their table is ready. Perhaps they will seek you out before your signal word is pulled down for another party. This gave the impression that you had to be very vigilant and keep your eye on the front of the room at all times -- making me a little paranoid that we'd miss our table, but the system works fine. I'm too used to peripherally listening for a familiar name called out, or the giant blinking coaster/pagers at large chains. I'm sure that when I dine again on a busy night at Otto, my initial annoyance at the waitlisting system will be gone, given that I now know what to expect.

The dining room is pleasantly (but not expensively) decorated -- the predominant color is deep red -- another poster pointed out the colors match the sauce, which I'd say is accurate. There are a lot of tables, and they're fairly close together -- close enough you can hear the conversation at the adjoining table without appearing obvious; but not so close that everyone in your immediate vicinity has to reposition when you get up to go to the bathroom. I'd say it's average spacing between tables for a Manhattan restaurant. The decor visually feels comfortable and efficient; however I wouldn't say the seating is of the type that makes you want to linger in conversation for a long time after the meal.

Our server was friendly, and fairly knowledgable, but not as present as I would prefer -- we waited about 10 minutes after being seated before she approached. I believe we saw her once, maybe twice again before she took our dessert order. She adequately handled all questions on the cuisine, recommended dishes, etc. There were a few others service issues throughout the meal -- my diet coke delivered to the next table, their after dinner coffee delivered to our table 10 minutes later (and before any food), my companion had to follow-up on his glass of wine when it didn't arrive with the main course. Knowing that the restaurant had just opened, none of these were bothersome enough to comment to the restaurant on. We were also much more focused on conversation and catching up, and not focused evaluating the restaurant.

The menu and the wine list has been extensively covered; our experience did not deviate from what others have reported. Our starters were the celery root and citrus salad (excellent); the pickled mushrooms (excellent), and salsify with saba (adequate). I would not order the salsify again, although it was competently prepared, it's just not the type of dish that appeals to my personal tastes -- it reminded me too much of cooked carrots, which I do not like. It was ordered based on what I've read here, and recommendation of our server. For the main course, we had the Marinara (very good) and Romana (excellent) pizzas -- neither one of us was in a very experimental mood. I love quality anchovies when done right, and although I don't eat them often, when I do either love or hate them. On the Romana pizza they were not omnipresent. They were situated so that you could get one quarter inch piece of anchovy in about every other bite. They also married beautifully with the mozzarella -- a combination that I haven't had, but will definitely remember. Although I don't believe they were, they remind me of mild white anchovies that I've had in tapas. The Marinara pizza was exactly as expected -- plain, but with a bite from the peppers. Overall, the quality and freshess of the ingredients was loud & clear. For desert, we split two scoops of gelato -- the meyer lemon with a ribbon of huckleberry (excellent excellent), and the caramel (excellent and a half).

The cost for the meal (pre-tip) was appx $60 -- my companion had one glass of wine and I had one diet coke.

One more service incident sticks out in my mind. When I went to recover our coats and scarves and gloves and hats (it's been an extremely cold week in New York), I waited patiently for the coat check person to extract herself from a personal conversation with a member of restaurant management (a gentleman I noted circulating the room all evening) -- note that I was in plain view slightly behind and to the side of the gentleman. After more than 30 seconds of waiting for this personal conversation to end, I aggressively inserted myself in the middle of them to present our claim tickets. I have no problem with honest service mistakes, however I have absolutely no patience for lax or apathetic service. I hope this was an isolated incident.

I'm looking forward to getting back to Otto after the initial buzz has died down (will it?), and to being a little more adventurous with my selections -- I will go with a larger group of people (for a diverse selection of yummy things to taste). My objective is to delve into the bruschettas and cheese courses. We did not have a collective appetite to eat a lot of food on Tuesday. I'm also hoping that the service has improved -- so that I don't have a persistent association of mildly negative experiences.

Edited January 17, 2003 by muon33 (log)