Babbo with a side of Val Kilmer

For my birthday last year my sister took me to Babbo, and, maybe because we both had really unreasonably high expectations for the place, we were underwhelmed by the food. But I also thought maybe by ordering a la carte we chose the wrong dishes so I shouldn't be too hasty in writing off the restaurant and a second visit was necessary to form a more informed opinion.

So I made a reservation for a Saturday dinner, which, no joke, was the most painful experience ever. Since Mario Batali is crazy famous, getting a table here is ridiculously hard, so if you're a normal person with no connections, you have to call exactly a month in advance of your reservation date, right at 10:30 a.m. when the reservation line opens, in order to secure a spot. Of course, I called at 10:30, and, what do you know, the lines were busy...I literally called 5 times each subsequent hour, and it was STILL BUSY, UGH. And then finally, at around 10:30 p.m. at NIGHT, a real person answers the phone and tells me that either 5:00 p.m. or 11:00 p.m. was available. Prime dining times, I know, but beggars can't be choosers! So I took the 11:00 p.m. time slot.

When we got to Babbo, it was still bustling and busy, even at 11:00 p.m. The atmosphere was a bit frenetic because, first of all, Lenny Kravitz was playing in the background, and all these servers were running around in a small space, nearly bumping into patrons at each turn of a corner. I have to admit that they were very expert at not tripping, falling or dropping things in this lively environment. I would say the crowd that night was a little older, and almost every woman there was wearing a dress. (I was in shorts and ballet flats, since we raced down here from the Arcade Fire/LCD Soundsystem concert in Staten Island). Some people were on dates, others were just in groups, and some people looked like out of towners who were in the city for a nice dinner at the renowned restaurant. Obviously Babbo has the luxury of being a dining destination for any occasion!

We were seated upstairs, and what do you know, we were seated at a table right next to Val Kilmer!! You know, the guy from "Batman Forever" and other well-known classics such as "At First Sight" and "The Island of Dr. Moreau". It made me feel better knowing that even celebrities like Val Kilmer couldn't get a prime table at Babbo, but, then again, Val Kilmer was sort of out of shape and it's not like his career's really hot right now, so maybe he's not the best example to use. But still, it was a pretty awesome sighting nonetheless. I liked the upstairs seating area, the glass ceiling and lights provided a nice nighttime view and the interior felt like a comfortable summer home.

So what about the food? We decided to order the $75 traditional tasting menu, so that way we could try a little bit of everything and not miss the highlights. We started out with a chickpea bruschetta in an olive sauce, which was a starter for everyone, not just for the tasting menu patrons; it was a nice light and lively way to start off the meal.

The first course was the Babbo Culatello with Ramps and Pecorino. I have to tell you, I have never ever heard of culatello, ramps or pecorino until I came to Babbo, and I still don't really know what they are. Basically, it looked like 3-4 very thinly sliced pieces of cured ham, with a mound of pickled, leafy green vegetables on top. It was ok--I liked how it was light, but it's not something I'd order again. The following picture is similar to what we had that night, but without the figs:

The second course was the Pappardelle with Porcini and Thyme, which was really delicious. It's basically a pasta dish that consists of really wide, long rectangular noodles (think extra-large fettucini), probably cooked in olive oil, topped with some fabulous porcini mushrooms and parmesan cheese. It was a very simple dish, but the poricini wrapped up in this long pasta pieces was just magic. This was my favorite part of the meal by far--I wanted some more after I was done! The following picture is also very similar to what we had, but the mushrooms were darker and were less all over the place than the white truffles that are being shown:


The third course was the Duck Tortelli with "Sugo Finto". I was really looking forward to this dish, because they described it as duck confit pasta topped in a fabulous tomato-based sauce; I was expecting like little juicy nuggets of succulent duck in ravioli or something. But they chopped up the meat really finely and it almost felt like I was eating ravioli with ground beef inside, so I was let down a little by how it turned out.

The fourth course was the Venison Loin with Acorn Squash Caponata with Mint Pesto. I think interesting red meats like lamb or venison always go well with a mint-based sauce, so it was very tasty, the heavier and gamier taste of the meat nicely off-set by minty lightness...also really liked the texture pairing with the acorn squash and lentil-type vegetables. But it's not like I was dying to order this again. It looked really pretty though!


The fifth course was the Coach Farm's Finest with Fennel Honey, which consisted of a triangular slice of goat cheese surrounded by honey and fennel seeds and accompanying sliced bread. Initially a server bungled the order and just gave us the cheese, which was just really rich and salty, and I thought it was nothing special...but then another server rushed over and apologized, saying the other server was new and forgot to drizzle the honey around the cheese. Now that made more sense, why would they just slap on a slice of cheese for a tasting menu dish?? I have to say, the cheese on its own was too rich and too much, but with the sweetness of the honey and crunch of the fennel, it was fantastic!

Next came THREE courses of dessert--we had the "Delizia di Susina" plum cake, the chocolate "tartufino" and the Venetian Apple Cake Olive Oil Gelato. I LOVED the Delizia di Susina, plum cake is so delicious, it almost tastes like apple pie but in cake form and much better. (If you go to Craft, they have a fabulous plum cake as well.) The chocolate tartufino was also really excellent, it tasted like a huge, delicious hazlenut truffle, and the apple cake (tasted almost like a dreamy apple donut) and olive oil gelato (tastes like lemon, not olive oil!) was also a very good pairing. So I have to say, the desserts were AWESOME, but the Delizia di Susina plum cake totally blew me away.

All in all, I would have to say I LOVED the Pappardelle with Porcini and Thyme and the Delizia di Susina, liked the other desserts, the goat cheese and venison, and the rest I was lukewarm about. Hmm, but I'm not sure if this sort of uneven outcome was worth all the hassle of getting the reservation and bumping into a few celebrities here and there. I really didn't like feeling like I had to work so hard to be deemed worthy to dine at Babbo, so I think my next visit won't happen for a really long time. I did the whole celebrity chef Mario Batali thing, got it out of the way, and that's that.

(Pictures of Babbo courtesy of www.babbony.com).

Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011
212-777-0303 (good luck trying to get through!!)
(Waverly Pl and MacDougal)

Rating (out of 5 stars):***
Style: Italian
Prices: $75 for traditional tasting menu, $11-$23 for first and second courses, $24-$70 for entrees
Summary: To show off that you went to an exclusive NYC restaurant, Babbo will impress--the celebrity sightings, the expertly prepared exotic Italian food and ingredients and the difficulty of getting a coveted table all come with the package. But frankly, it's a little overrated.