Prelude to my real Babbo review

I've been to Babbo, Mario Batali's most famous and successful restaurant, five times already and still have no written a review on it. Considering the fact that it's relatively high end and a pain to get reservations, five times at a restaurant like this is a lot for me. I honestly can't even think of one fine dining spot in New York that I've been to more than once. So this is a testament to how much I love Babbo.

While I won't write up a full out review, I can promise it will eventually come. I just love this restaurant so much that I feel like it deserves eloquent words. Unfortunately, I need to think long and hard if I want to write eloquently.

Just to give a sneak peak, these are the things I've tried at Babbo and can comment on:

APPETIZERS
Grilled Octopus with "Borlotti Marinati" and Spicy Limoncello Vinaigrette
Warm Lamb's Tongue Vinaigrette with Chanterelles and a 3-minute Egg
Warm Tripe "alla Parmigiana"

PRIMI
Black Spaghetti with Rock Shrimp, Spicy Salami Calabrese, and Green Chiles
Mint Love Letters with Spicy Lamb Sausage
Beef Cheek Ravioli with Crushed Squab Liver and Black Truffles
Spaghettini with Spicy Budding Chives and One Pound Lobster
Chianti Stained Pappardelle with Wild Boar Ragu
Gargenelli with "Funghi Trifolati"

DOLCI
Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Orange Sauce and Hazelnut Gelato
Pistachio and Chocolate Semifreddo
Assortment of Gelati and Sorbetti


So those are all the things that I've tried for myself. As you can see, I've tried a pretty good amount at Babbo, and maybe this is why I've been holding off on a review of this place. There's just too much to say! I may be able to comment on other things my dining partners (pretty much just my family and Gabe) have eaten as we all tend to have a bit of each other's food. But I do promise that at some point in the next couple of months (just being realistic), I'll have a real review with photos. Until then...

Lupa

Gabe and I went to Lupa for our "Christmas Dinner." It's a Mario Batali restaurant, and Babbo (his most famed restaurant) is our favorite, so it was about time to try Lupa, which gets great reviews as well. It's much more casual than Babbo and is more of a trattoria specializing in Roman dishes. It is also much cheaper than Babbo, most likely due to the simpler food.

We settled on a bottle of medium-bodied red wine from Piemonte. I forgot to copy down the whole name, but I believe it's a 2004 Boroli Quattro Fratelli Barbera d'Alli. It was definitely a good recommendation by our waiter. The nice thing about Lupa is that they have a pretty good amount of wines under $40 which is considered relatively "cheap" in NYC restaurants. Our bottle was somewhere around $35. We were also given really tasty and moist foccacia bread with olive oil.

For our antipasti, we decided to have the Baccala with Potatoes&Lovage ($10). I'm assuming the lovage is the greens garnishing the baccala. Gabe and I love baccala, so that's why we picked this. This was a really enjoyable, tasty, and fresh antipasti served at room temperature. Lupa seems to have a great selection of antipasti. I think I'd be happy just sharing a few of them with someone as my whole meal.

I got the Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage&Fennel ($15) for my primi. The serving is actually bigger than what many pictures indicate because it's served in such a huge bowl. I got this because it seems to be the favorite primi at Lupa, and it definitely lived up to its hype! The gnocchi was so soft and pillowy, not chewy or super heavy like other gnocchi. The sauce was perfect as well, though maybe I would have liked more sausage. This one was definitely a winner.


Gabe got the Bucatini All'Amatriciana ($15). Since we used Batali's recipe to make this dish ourselves for my birthday, it was interesting to compare our version to Lupa's. Lupa's was definitely better. The tomatoes were pureed, while ours were diced, but even so, somehow their tomato sauce was much tastier, most likely due to better/fresher/riper tomatoes rather than canned tomatoes haha. And of course the guanciale added a great flavor.


(Sorry, got a little excited and forgot to take a picture before we started eating it)
We shared the Saltimbocca ($17) for our secondi. According to the glossary, it's veal, prosciutto, and sage. This was such a flavorful dish, and the portion was really big. It shouldn't be for one person. It's definitely a unique dish - I recommend it for a secondi.

We were so full from our food that we didn't bother getting dessert. Overall, this is such a great restaurant with very simple Italian/Roman fare. I've read that their spaghetti al pomodoro is quite exceptional, and I think that's really saying a lot. That's the simplest dish ever, yet Lupa manages to make it stand out somehow with quality ingredients and cooking. Considering the quality of the food, really warm service/atmosphere, and even the reputation, the food really isn't expensive. You can spend the same amount on mediocre pasta at blah and even commercial/chain restaurants, so it's totally worth the trip to Lupa.

Please go to Lupa (as well as Babbo and Otto...I<3mario>