On The Town: Babbo (New York)

Babbo
110 Waverly Place
New York, NY 10011
1.

(Photo via Babbo)

So it’s no secret that I have a food crush on Mario Batali (chronicled here). I’ve been to many of his restaurants including Otto, Lupa, Esca, Del Posto and Pizzeria Mozza.  Babbo has been on my list for years but has never managed to happen.  Part of it is the advanced planning required (reservations are taken starting a month to the date that you want to go if you call anytime after you’ll be eating at 11pm) and the fact that when I lived in NYC it didn’t really fit within a student’s budget (and later didn’t fit into a budding TV producer’s budget either).  These days I have more cash (sweet!) but my NYC trips aren’t usually planned far in advance.  This time around however we were planning around my mom’s birthday so the trip was booked 2 months in advance!  I figured Babbo would be a great choice for my mom’s birthday because she loves Italian food and has enjoyed Mario’s restaurants in the past.

Once I settled on Babbo I became kind of obsessed with the whole reservation policy.  I read countless blog entries and Chowhound posts to figure out how to navigate the system.  I even did test call runs on the days leading up to the big day.  I was obsessed.  Finally June 3 rolled along and I made the call.  I started calling at 10AM and finally managed to get through at around 11AM.  At this point they offered me 5:45 or 10:30.  The average person would’ve been disappointed but alas I had tickets to see Fences at 8PM so 5:45 was perfect!

From the outside Babbo looks like nothing fancy but inside it’s lovely.  The first thing I noticed when I entered was a woman sitting at the bar with a wide-brimmed hat.  How strange I thought to myself.  Not so strange if the woman happened to be food journalist Gael Greene, which it was!  So I was totally pumped.  If it’s good enough for Gael Greene…

My mom and I were seated in what could only be described as a lover’s table. We were on the first floor at the end of the room at the table with the banquette. It was pretty hilarious but also probably one of the best tables.

On to the food…

It all started with an amuse bouche.  I’m a sucker for an amuse bouche because frankly I never see them coming.  I’m always DELIGHTED that I’ve been granted the pleasure of a little treat before my meal.  It’s the little things really.  This amuse bouche consisted of a chickpea bruschetta concoction.  From that taste I knew the meal would be fantastic.

Grilled Market Verdure – to start we split one of the day’s specials, grilled vegetables from the market.  The vegetables were of the squash and pepper variety which worked for me.  They were really simple and fresh with a bit of oil and a hint of cheese.  A nice way to start.

Gnocchi with Braised Oxtail – I’m a sucker for some oxtail and for gnocchi so when I saw the two combined I knew I had to go for that.    This was honestly one of those dishes where I wanted to hold the bowl to my face and just lick it.  The gnocchi were pillowy and the oxtail was plentiful and flavourful.  There wasn’t one particular flavour that was overwhelming, it was just pure goodness.  Initially going into Babbo I figured the pastas wouldn’t be main course sized since in Italy pasta is kind of like an appetizer (you have it before a meat dish).  However our waiter told us up front that the pastas were main course sized OR that we could split it as an appetizer, which is what we did.  Great choice.

Brasato al Barolo (Braised Beef with Porcini Mushrooms) – I’m really into braised meats these days.  It’s typically something that I’d crave in the wintertime but for some reason this summer my stomach wants me to fire up the oven and keep it going for 3+ hours to braise some meat.  Luckily there was braised meat on the menu to keep my craving at bay.  As the title says the meat was braised in Barolo with porcini mushrooms and was served on top of polenta.  Pretty much one of my fave types of meals.  I loved this and left my plate embarrassingly clean at the end.

Swordfish with Sweet Potato Passato and Chorizo Vinaigrette – This was my mom’s pick.  We had no clue what a “passato” was and oddly did not even ask.  Turns out it’s a puree and it went well with the swordfish.  It was more on the runnier side than I would have liked but it was still lovely.  The Chorizo Vinaigrette was my favourite.  Vinaigrette isn’t quite the word to describe it as the fish ends up with a ton of chorizo strips on top of it.  No complaints.

Blueberry Almond Cake “Sottosopra” with Toasted Coconut Gelato – When dessert time came we played the whole “we’re not having dessert game”. But then a few things happened: 1.) remembered it was my mom’s birthday, 2.) heard Adjoa’s voice in my head, she would not tolerate no dessert and 3.) I saw the menu.  My eyes immediately gravitated towards the Blueberry Almond Cake and the Chocolate Hazelnut Cake, both sounded amazing.  When they brought out the cake I thought I was going to pass out.  What the description DOESN’T tell you is that it’s more of a blueberry upside down cake! AND it was a bit warm (I could be making that part up, it could have been my heart warming up to dessert). It came with the coconut ice cream and was garnished with coconut curls. I love coconut.  So basically it tasted like heaven and wish I had gotten one all for myself.  Since returning I’ve been OBSESSED with finding the recipe for this or at least something similar.  I may have to plead with the Babbo gods to help a sister out.

I don’t do fine dining all that often but when I do I love it.  The level of service was exceptional.  Our waiter was lovely, attentive and really helpful at guiding us through ways to approach the menu.  The Maitre d’ (at least I believe he was the Maitre d’) was really engaging (and from Buffalo, we’re like neighbours).  And I have to admit it cracked me up every time our cutlery was replaced.  It also cracked me up that the soundtrack was Bob Marley.  Yes, in an Italian restaurant. Mario is just gangsta like that.  I was seriously grooving the entire time and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) to not sing along.

After the meal the verdict was that we pretty much have to come here on every one of our trips.  It was that good.  I also found the prices to be reasonable and the portions to be comfortable.  If anything I think if I’d ordered the gnocchi for my main I would have been stuffed.  Next time I would love to try one of the tasting menus.  The table next to ours did the pasta tasting menu and I was way into watching what they were eating.

Needless to say I think Babbo has earned it’s reputation over the past 12 years.  It’s worth fighting the phone lines and gaining 12 lbs because you decided to order 10 of the Blueberry Almond Cakes (that will be me next time).