After a comfortable flight, and a very painless unloading (15 minutes total to get baggage and get to Hertz and into the car, in JFK, of all places... world record I think), today is the first official day of this mini-vacation. Yay, I think. At least we got off on the right foot with dinner at Babbo last night.
Yes, the typical mini-vacation where I'm glued to the leash watching the goings on at work, 3000 miles away (and chiming in occasionally, handing off some small fires). Blackberries (or booberries as I call them) are ranked high in my estimation, among man's most evil inventions. I keep threatening to run mine over with the car, or chuck it into the Pacific, but no, there it sits, protected, blinking, and always on. Given that we are now watching the Lord or the Rings, a funny thought occurred to me... there are some interesting parallels between 'the one ring' and 'the blackberry'. Though I wouldn't go so far as to stroke my blackberry and call it 'my precious', the behavior and feelings towards the darn thing are somewhat the same. Always carrying it, always one hand on it, always looking at it, but knowing what a burden it is, knowing that it should be destroyed for the greater good of 1 mankind (myself). The only drawback or feature missing is that my blackberry cannot grant me some cool power like being able to completely vanish from eyesight as though wearing an invisibility cloak (um, well does being able to vanish from work and be in another location count? I guess it could...) Argh, stupid device. We hates it, yes we do.
Well, we got started on the right foot last night with a quick run out to the Village for dinner at Babbo. I was lucky enough to score a reservation some weeks back, and lucky enough to land it on the date of Ryan's birthday.
Ryan = Binkomonster CEO, Wonderous other half.
Though I was slow on the uptake last night (no doubt as a result of all the alcohol we were busy consuming) the accommodating folks at Babbo were even able to manage to get that birthday candle into the dessert, so I could sing the happy birthday ditty. Success. Candle blown out/wish made. Yay.
Dinner was at 10:30, and we got there really early, and met with a mob scene. No space in the bar, no space to move.
Started to harbor some concern as the host explained they were running half an hour behind. Ick.
They sent us over to the North something on the other side of the street to cool our heels in their lounge with a drink.
With 45 minutes to kill it seemed like a good idea. A round of martinis was ordered, with extra olives, and in such a nice, quiet atmosphere, it was a very nice way to spend the time while waiting for the zoo at Babbo to clear out.
Once back at Babbo, we only had to wait about 5 minutes for our table, but again, parked at the bar, enjoying their signature green apple bellini, it took the sting out of the wait.
I had expected that we would have a table in the main dining room that you see on entering the restaurant, but we were supremely lucky, and got seated upstairs. Yessss. Had never seen the upstairs. Very nice decor/good lighting/not overly loud. Just right.
Ryan being in charge of the menu selection was kind to indulge us both in the pasta tasting. One word: starch extreme!
We knew we were in for a long and enjoyable slog having been advised by the waiter that it was a very filling tasting.
But it was worth it. The first three courses were superb :
black tagliatelle (squid ink) with parnips and pancetta - simple and perfect (an ever so slightly larger portion would make a divine lunch), and Ryan couldn't stop talking about the pancetta.
casunzei with poppy seeds - I had expected something entirely different with this dish, but was pleasantly surprised. Light and pleasing.
garganelli with funghi trifolati - this was good, but not memorable. I seem to forget the taste of this dish when looking back on the evening, which means it didnt make a forcible impression.
The next few courses were just as fantastic, but at this point, full of wine and pasta already, it was getting harder and harder to get through each. By the time dessert was upon us, we were ready to throw up our hands and yell in defeat.
Marco's pyramids with passato di pomodoro - absolute yum. I had discussed this dish at length with a colleague who had also been to Babbo, and it came highly recommend. It didn't disappoint.
Papardelle bolognese I had the pleasure of having last year, and I still say that Babbo's bolognese is by far the best I have ever tasted. Consistency remains, and the dish is as good as it was last year. My only disappointment was that I was so full I didn't really have the space to finish it.
Two dishes left:
goat cheese frittelle with honey and thyme - Ryan raved about this dish all night long. His view was that this was the best dish of the evening. It did rank up there. Very beautiful combination, and I am now on a quest to find the recipe so that we can attempt this in our own kitchen.
Last but not least, we were both to have had the saffron panna cotta with quince and pink peppercorn, but only Ryan took this dish, they brought out a chocolate/marzipan/nougat kind of confection which I took.
I sampled both and much preferred the panna cotta. A panna cotta done well is a truly luscious dessert. It just melts down your tongue, and sits well. The chocolate confection was also good, but I think I needed to be in a different frame of mind to really appreciate it.
Also worth mentioning was that I started out with doing the wine pairing with the pasta tasting.
Which was very well done.
Ryan took sips of my wine (and this ended up working great). Somewhere by course three, Ryan was liking the wines enough that he requested the pairing as well. So by course three, there were 5 or 6 glasses on the table with various tasty Italian wines.
Again, by this point, the martini and the bellini having taken hold, the same situation was happening with the wine tasting, I could only really take a sip or two of each glass (the moscato and dessert wines being the exception, those got drained).
I seem to remember that before course 5, the waiter sensed that we were not going to be finishing all the glasses of wine (by now there were 7 or 8 glasses), and carried a tray off with all of them.
All that wine. On a sober start, each of those would have been emptied of its contents.
Tragic shame. The saving grace is that we have the menu which lists each of the wines which were paired with the dinner. There were some true winners:
Vespa Bianco Bastianich 2000 - started us off. Nice, very neutral, tasty.
Golfo del Tigullio Vermentino "Vigna Intrigoso" Bisson 2002 - Again, another white, this one even better. I liked the chalkiness of it, and felt this would go with any kind of dinner you might throw together. For whatever reason, this seem to hit my palate just right.
Barolo 'Vigna Arborina" Bovio 1995 - Here we switched to reds. This 95 was very nice. A nice complement for meat, that went down very smoothly. Ryan thought the bouquet was minty, but it was not reflected in the taste at all. Interesting comment for a wine.
Paestum Aglianico "Donnaluna" DeConiciliis 2002 - I remember the bottle being brought out. Simple label with very little text, but a bold gold stripe across a black background. Very dark. I also recall the waiter stating that this was from the coastal region (great area for growing grapes/good earth). What I don't recall is this wine making a huge impression on me. Good for a red. Nothing to write sonnets about.
Colline Lucchesi "Palistorti" Tenuta di Valgiano 2000 - Now this one I do remember. Fruity as hell, and really great. Terrific choice for pairing with the bolognese with which it was served. Yum. This is one I will actually try to obtain back home through either D&M or BevMo or some other merchant. Worthy of putting on the Binkomonster dinner table.
Last but not least, the two 'dessert' wines. One for the goat cheese, one for the panna cotta.
Verduzzo Friulano, Il Roncal 2001 - Surprisingly low key. And sweet, but not overpowering. Just right with the cheese, and another candidate to try and hunt down, as for a cheese tasting, this would be an ideal choice.
Moscato d' Asti Cascina Giovinale 2002 - We have discovered moscato's a long time ago back on the east coast at another restaurant, and we've been acquiring them and drinking them since. Niebbolo is the winery we are most familiar with (and the one I believe produces the best moscato we've tasted thus far). This moscato was good, went nicely with dessert, but I would not rate it as top 4 on my list. I think perhaps it has to do with the fact that I prefer (or rather am fixated on) Moscatos that are sparkling. No bubbles, nothing to write home about.
So there you have it. Completely indulgent, completely gluttonous. A feast of food and drink fit for Caesar. And at the end (cue the skit from Monty Python 'one wahfer thin mint...') they bring a plate
of what I would call Italian style petit fours to close out the tasting. Crikey. I think we managed to shove down 3 collectively (thank God they were small), and that was it.
Then it was the game of 'get down the stairs while trying to keep your balance', fresh blast of cold air outside, annnnd... make it to the car.
Talk about lucky, we were able to score parking about 20 feet from the restaurant with no problem.
I find it completely idiotic that we can find parking in NYC (the Village no less) easier than we can find parking in San Francisco on our own street. Wha? Someone, please explain....
All I remember after this wonderful experience is very little.
Completely passed out for the trip back home, and once there, zipped out of the on-the-town outfit to pjs in about 1.2 minutes. The ass was dragged into bed right after that.
Today has been a quieter day, family and friends visiting to wish a Happy New Year.
Breakfast, a wonderful noodle soup lunch, and the dinner yet to come.
And napping on and off to try and get rid of the monster headache that has plagued me all day (resulting I'm sure from the over-indulgence of last night).
Comments