At
Babbo a flurry of freshly grated pecorino toscano cheese covers the dessert plate. It's a sight to see, white on white over that pillow-soft quenelle of honey grappa zabaione. This zabaione is airy light, spun like magic from little more than fresh egg yolks, cream and sugar. Honey notes provide a soft undertone, a welcome pairing with the savory nuttiness of pecorino.
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As we've seen, there are some tourist-frequented spots that really do serve good food. But where do we think tourists
should go? Here are a dozen places that we think visitors to our fair city shouldn't miss. (Pizza, bagels, burgers, Italian-American spots, picks for Food Network and Top Chef fans, and the best way to get into great restaurants for less cash—it's all here.)
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Tasting menus at Babbo usually go for more than $59, but from now until Christmas, Mario's offering a three-course porcini menu for just that: grilled porcini with arugula and Parmigiano, pappardelle with porcini and thyme, and a grilled hanger steak...
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Our table was full with dishes like warm lamb's tongue and salumi, lamb brains, and lamb chops, sweetbreads galore, and goose liver ravioli. The grilled octopus was lovely, as was the pumpkin lune and hearty pappardelle with boar ragu....
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Mario Batali's West Village restaurant Babbo just celebrated its tenth anniversary this month. That wasn't my excuse for eating there for the first and second time within the past three months, but I'll pretend it was. (You too can...
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Mario Batali's Babbo is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, and on Sunday the restaurant turned Waverly Place into a block party birthday, with snacks from Babbo and the other restaurants in Batali's empire. Blogger Vanessa Vichit-Vadakan was there and...
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Like most serious eaters, I've been searching for deliciousness my whole life, but sometimes, even I acknowledge there's often more to eating out than great food. Obviously for me the food is paramount, but there are other factors that go into judging great restaurants.
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Every year Mario Batali donates a progressive dinner for the fund raising auction at my son's former school. This year the winning bidders and I had an antipasto course standing at Otto, three small pasta courses (preceded by a tiny...
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