The Heights Visited 12/29/2013 3 Forks

The Heights  3115 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20010

I usually don't spend a whole lot of time in Washington DC proper, but now that a lot of my high school friends who came back to live in the area actually live in the city vs. the suburbs, I've been checking out the city more and more.  And you know what? It's totally different from what I remember as a kid.  The area surrounding 14th street is bustling with tons of great shops and restaurants and has kind of changed my perspective on living in DC (although I don't see that happening anytime soon). 

The Heights is your standard cute, neighborhood American joint.  There were 8 of us, so it was great that they were able to accommodate all of us and the waiter was really nice and very gracious (especially since we had an active toddler at the table with us).  The menu has your basic brunch fare:  benedict, breakfast platter, bacon/sausage and eggs, omelets, etc.  They also have a lunch menu but Martha and Meredith had made a comment that their last non-brunch meal wasn't super stellar, so I decided forgo the fish tacos and stick with breakfast type food.  I opted for the huevos motulenos ($10.50) - which is pretty like a huevos rancheros.  If you like bloody marys, they have a great make- your-own bloody mary menu where you can get weird things like old bay seasoning, shrimp, blue cheese, and beef broth in it.  The huevos motulenos came with eggs (I chose scrambled), chicken, plantains, avocado, black beans and salsa.  I was a bit disappointed that it only came with 2 small and slightly dried out corn tortillas, but if there were more of them it probably would have filled me up a lot faster.  The flavors of the dish were fine but I would have liked more spicy salsa added to the top of it. The chicken was a bit too chunky for the dish and it probably would have worked better as a shredded chicken.  While I love plantains, it didn't really add to much to the dish.  The avocados were surprisingly nice and ripe (it is the dead of winter right now), however mashing them up into guacamole might have been a better route for the overall dish.  While it seems like I have a lot of "suggestions" for the dish, it got the job done for brunch.  I didn't try anyone else's food but everyone seemed to enjoy themselves as all our plates were fairly empty by the end of the meal. 

All in all, it was the right spot for such a big group and the waiter was really patient and nicely attentive (without being too annoying).  The food wasn't particularly outstanding but this was the kind of meal where it was more about the company of good friends and catching up versus having a fine dining experience.  Total bill:  $19/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Founding Farmers Visited 12/28/2013 2.5 Forks

Founding Farmers  12505 Park Potomac Avenue, Potomac, MD 20854

I usually don't do brunch when I'm home but when Jeana recommended Saturday brunch at this place that was 5 minutes from my mom's place, I couldn't say no.  Founding Farmer is a cute modern American bistro type place in this new town center community in the Potomac/Rockville area.  They claim to be part of the whole farm to table concept, but after eating there I'm not so sure if they are on par with some of the places in the city that are truly farm to table.  I wasn't sure if people really brunch in the suburbs, but they clearly do because the place was packed at noon.  Luckily we had a reservation and we sat down quickly. 

The menu has a brunch and lunch section.  The brunch section has your typical benedict, eggs, pancake and waffle section as well as a few hash scrambles.  I usually would head straight for the benedicts and the people next to us had gotten it and it looked pretty good, but I decided to go for something more healthy:  the sausage, mushroom and spinach scramble ($12) and it came with a side of grits and a biscuit.  Jeana got the pastrami hash ($12) and we each got coffee ($5) and orange juice ($2) to start. Jeana wanted me to point out that she was disappointed that they did not offer regular white sugar for the coffee but instead only had sugar substitutes.  The scramble came out and for some reason I had thought it was going to be one of those scrambles that came in a cute cast iron skillet but it just came out on my plate.  All the ingredients in the scramble (pork sausage, mushroom, cheddar cheese, spinach and onions) were fine but it just looked and tasted like a scramble that I could make at home myself not something that tasted like it came straight from the farm.  The presentation of it was also like something that I would serve myself at home too - pretty blah.  There wasn't anything super special about it in any way - I mean, it tasted totally fine but nothing really unique or interesting.  I will say that the grits were fairly decent - it wasn't super cheesey nor did it have any other special toppings to it but it was totally acceptable.  By the time I got to the biscuit, I was surprisingly full.  I generally like my biscuits to be warm and flakey but this one was cold and just fell apart at every bite so I stopped after the 2nd bite.  To be fair, I did wait to the end of my meal to eat it, so it might have been a different experience if I had eaten it first. 

To me the service was acceptable but Jeana was pretty annoyed by their lack of attentiveness.  When our meal was over, they gave us our bill in this kitchy mailbox, without asking us if we wanted anything else which did also annoy me.  As I looked around the restaurant, it looked like a lot of people were getting burgers, so maybe that's what they are better at.   They do have a pretty extensive lunch and dinner menu, so I would possibly come back for either of those menus but I would probably not order from their brunch menu again.  Total bill:  $26/pp with tip, tax and drinks.

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Little Owl Visited 12/21/2013 3 Forks

Little Owl 90 Bedford St (b/t Grove St &Barrow St), New York, NY, 10014

Little Owl isn't a new restaurant but due to it's tiny size and perfect West Village location, it's incredibly difficult to get a table here.  Lav and I tried to go once and they quoted us 2 hours, so we left and this time, they quoted us 3 hours!  WTF?  But then the hostess gave us the wink wink nudge nudge that something may open up sooner and that we should stay close.  We opted to grab a drink around the corner and an hour later we had a table.  It's super cozy inside (maybe 8 tables max) and the decorations were quite festive due to the holiday time period, so it was just adorable meal.  It's a great date place if you're looking for someplace in the 'hood. 

The menu is new American and has a variety of appetizers, an entire vegetable side section and an entree section.  Although there was a nice section full of vegetables, none of the entree sized dishes were vegetarian, so Lav had to piecemeal her dinner together.  We started with the ricotta cavatelli but made without chicken broth, and Lav got a variety of vegetables (each $8):  squash, brussels sprouts with homefries, and the polenta and I got the pork chop ($26) as it was highly recommended by the waitress. The ricotta cavatelli came out first and I took a few nibbles.  I loved the melted ricotta on top and the cavatelli had a nice thick consistency but you could just tell that it was missing the chicken stock (they substituted it with water instead) - there was an element of salt/flavor that was missing from the dish.  Next came our entrees.  My pork chop was enormous and had a good sear on the outside.  I know that pork is not cooked like meat where you can order it medium rare, but it was just a bit too cooked on the inside for me.  But it was a very meaty dish and the flavor of it combined with the butter beans made for a very hearty entree.  Lav mentioned that her veggies were good but not particularly mind blowing. If dinner had just ended here, I would have been a bit disappointed.  But this is where dessert picked up the slack.  Since it was the holidays, we decided to treat ourselves to both the pear crisp and the chocolate souffle.   Oh my, this is really where The Little Owl excels.  The pear crisp was excellent.  It had a perfect crumble top and I could just tell that it was full of butter but who cares?  The vanilla ice cream was the perfect top for it.  As someone who isn't a huge fan of chocolate, I actually really enjoyed the chocolate souffle as well.  It was more dark chocolate than milk and when you cut through the cake, out came this fantastic ooze of sweetness.  If this is how all chocolate dish tastes, I might change my mind about hating chocolate. 

All in all, it was a perfectly nice meal but definitely not worth the 2 or 3 hour wait that we were originally quoted.  I would say it's worth waiting it out for maybe 30 minutes, but there are tons of other great restaurants in the West Village, that there's no need to spend your night waiting much longer.  I will say that their brunch/lunch menu looks pretty delicious, so I would be open to going again for a different meal.  Total bill:  $70 with tax, tip, and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Sushi Nakazawa Visited 12/17/2013 5 Forks

Sushi Nakazawa 23 Commerce Street (between S 7th Ave and Bedford Ave), New York, NY 10014

Epic.  That's really all I can say.  Or maybe Holy Shit, did that meal just happen?  Ever since the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi came out, people have been literally flying to Tokyo to get their chopsticks on his delicious sushi.  Luckily for those of us in NYC, one of his apprentices in the documentary just opened his own sushi restaurant in the heart of the West Village not so long ago.  As if that having the backing of the movie wasn't enough, Pete Wells from the New York Times just gave it the coveted four star rating.  There are only 4 other restaurants in all of NYC that have the 4 star rating and now Sushi Nakazawa joins the ranks as the only sushi place on the list.  Also, if you Google Map this place, it will show up as "Omakase for high rollers".  Funny and yet kind of true at the same time.

Luckily, I was able to snag a random reservation about 2 weeks ago for a Tuesday night.  There are 2 types of seating:  at the bar for $150 and in the dining room for $120.  The meals are exactly the same: omakase style, meaning chef's choice, no menu at all.  I opted for the $120 version but I do kind of regret that I didn't just go the extra mile to sit at the bar to watch the master at work.  The service here is impeccable and very high end - usually not my thing but after tasting the food here, I get it.  The meal is 10 plates, 20 pieces of sushi and of the utmost purist form - there is no soy sauce, no extra wasabi, or ginger in sight.  What you get is what you eat.  Besides, every piece has a small but perfect dap of wasabi underneath each piece of fish.   We started with the salmon plate:

One type is fresh king salmon and the other version is a smoked style.  As Janet said upon our first bite, "Did that just melt in my mouth? I didn't even need to chew."  It was pure heaven and it wasn't just because of the fish.  I thought that the rice was amazing.  I've heard that the key to a good piece of sushi isn't necessarily the fish, although that's important, but it's the rice.  It was perfectly cooked with the right firmness to it.  Meanwhile the fish went down like butter.  The 2nd piece tasted a bit like lox which isn't a bad thing either.

Second plate:

The 2nd plate consisted for raw scallop and clam.  Raw scallop is one of my favorite types of sushi and this literally blew my mind.  First of all, it was the biggest piece of scallop I have ever seen in my life and it just tasted like the ocean in a fantastic way.  Amazing.  The clam dish was also sublime.  I'm usually not a huge fan of clam sushi but of course, like everything else here, it changed my mind about it.

3rd plate:

The 3rd plate included bass and barracuda.  I've never really had bass sushi but this made me want to order it every time I'm in a great sushi bar.  I can't quite explain it but it was just mouth watering.  The barracuda was also another type of fish that I've never had before and this had a very smokey taste to it but it wasn't an overpowering flavor. 

4th plate: 

This was the plate that I thought I would like the least because it consisted of Spanish Mackerel, Shad and Saba - all usually very fishy tasting and generally my least favorite fish at most sushi joints.  This was still probably the fishiest of all the plates of he night but like everything else here, still mind blowing.  Clean, surprisingly mild and fresh as can be. 

5th plate: 

This plate had blue shrimp and squid with a piece of mullet roe.  The shrimp was enormous and had terrific sweetness and a nice crisp give.   The squid piece was actually my least favorite of the night.  It just didn't really taste as buttery or amazing as all the other types of fish. 

6th plate:  

This plate had 3 pieces:  striped jack, yellowtail and bonito.  There was this bright red piece of sushi in the middle of the dish that we thought was sushi, but no, it was yellowtail!  I had never seen red yellow tail before but who cares, it was spectacular.  I'm running out of words for amazing and mind blowing, but you get the picture here.   

7th plate: 

Ahh, the tune plate - one piece of fatty tuna and one piece of medium fatty tuna.   Fatty tuna - enough said. 

8th plate: 

Now this is the part of the meal where I might have actually started weeping.  This beautiful piece of sushi here is Santa Barbara uni.  It was quite possibly the best pieces of sushi, not to mention uni, I've had in my life.  Words don't do it any justice except it was creamy and earthy and amazing.  Along with the uni, this plate had the salmon roe sushi - they had the fun pop and saltiness to it that you come to expect with a quality salmon roe piece. 

9th and final sushi plate: 

This dish consisted of eel and the famous egg that Mr. Nakazawa obsessively slaved over in the movie. If there was one small fault to the meal, it would be that I didn't think the eel dish was as strong of a bite.  In fact, I would say I've had better elsewhere, but that being said it was still good but definitely one of the weaker pieces.  

Lastly, the egg dish.  The famous egg custard doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, but it was the ideal way to end the meal.  It tasted just like a sweet egg custard dessert.  It's nothing like any of those tough eggy triangle pieces that you normally get in a sushi restaurant. 

The last meal of the night was a refreshing serving of cut up pineapple and yuzu sorbet with pomegranate, raspberries and blackberries.  They were light, tart and a good palate cleanser for the night.   

I've always known that there is a huge difference between bad sushi and mediocre sushi and even good sushi.  But now I know the difference between great and sublime sushi.  I'm almost regretting that I came here because it's not really a meal or experience that I can do or afford on a regular basis and now every sushi meal I have will be set at an unrealistic and unattainable comparison.  

As we were walking out, we saw all the sushi chefs focusing diligently on their craft and they were just the cutest things ever.  The service here was extremely attentive - to the point where every time we took a sip of water, there was someone right next to us 2 minutes later refiling out glass.  If you are a serious sushi lover, this place is a must.  But just know, you've been warned that the rest of your sushi meals after this will pale in comparison.  Total bill:  $330 for two includes 1 glass of wine, tax and tip. 

Photo Credit:  Janet Fu

Lafayette Visited 12/13/2013 3.5 Forks

Lafayette 380 Lafayette St (b/t 4th St & Great Jones St), New York, NY 10003

I chose Lafayette based on a recommendation from a good friend who also has similar taste in restaurants and because it's from the same owners of Locanda Verde and The Dutch - one that I loved and the other that I thought was just ok.  The vibe here is very similar to a classic French restaurant like Balthazar.  Since it was the holiday season, it had this very cozy seasonal feel to it which was a nice touch. 

While there wasn't anything the jumped out immediately to me on the menu, the food that I was seeing served to the people next to us did look pretty tasty and I was having a hard time deciding between a meat or fish course.  Our waitress did try to tell us about their specials for the night and while she was very well intentioned and nice, she was such a low talker that only I could hear anything she was saying (I was closets to her).  She said there was a sweetbread dish, which Betsy heard as shrimp and grits and she also tried to explain the short rib ravioli which Cicily could not understand at all.  Now this place definitely does get very loud, so they really need to train their waitstaff to be especially loud when talking to their guests.  I opted to go with the Bay Scallop appetizer ($18), Brussels Sprouts ($9) for the table,  and the Steamed Black Bass ($33), Betsy got the Frisee Salad ($16) and the short rib daube ($34) and Cicily got the housemade garlic sausage appetizer ($16) and the short rib as well.  As you can see from the prices, this place is not cheap.   I didn't know what to expect with the scallop appetizer but I was pleasantly surprised at the number of scallops on the dish.  Since they are bay scallops, they are on the smaller side but there were about 8 of them and they were served almost raw in a smoked sweet potato sauce and sprinkled with pumpkin seeds to add some crunch to the dish.  It was nice dish but not sure if it was worth $18.  Betsy's frisee salad was huge and had nice chunks of thick cut bacon.  It was almost an entree sized dish, so if you plan on ordering it, I would suggest splitting it with someone.  I didn't try the sausage but Cicily did mention that she enjoyed it.  One other quick note about service again, they were just way too super eager/aggressive about clearing our plates.  I get it if your plate is empty but Betsy still had about 3/4 of her dish and they were aggressively trying to clear her plate.  That's a big no no in my book.  As for the entrees, my black bass came in a fantastic shellfish bouillabaisse broth that I was definitely in love with.  The fish was cooked perfectly with the right amount of tenderness - plus it was a fairly decent size cut of fillet that made the entire dish very filling.  The broth came with pieces of clams and mussels and small pieces of potato and leeks in it.  I wish I had bread with this dish because I would use it to sop up the entire bowl of broth.  Meanwhile, Betsy and Cicily commented that while they liked their short rib there wasn't enough of it, there was too much glaze on top of it and they didn't care too much for the polenta cakes that came with it.  It also seemed to be missing the fatty element of a typical dish.  The side of Brussels Sprouts were good (better than the ones at Charlie Bird last night) - they were nice and chunkier and covered in horseradish and served with thick bacon.  How can you go wrong with that combination?  Again, while we were eating the waitstaff swooped in to try to clear our dishes before we were all done.  It was really starting to get on my nerves.  We opted for dessert and chose the ice cream trio ($8) which consisted of chocolate, vanilla and pumpkin spice.  The pumpkin spice one was the best by far.  It was the right mix of pumpkin and spice without being too overwhelming in either direction.

By the time we left dinner at 8:30, the place was definitely hopping and very loud.  Overall, it was nice experience for a girls night out and I personally really loved my bass dish, but price-wise it's definitely on the expensive side.  I also knocked it down half a fork for the low talking waitress and the overly aggressive staff who made us feel like they didn't want us in the restaurant by consistently clearly our plates before we were done and by giving us the bill without us asking for it.   I do want to shout out to the sommelier who was excellent and gave us a fantastic recommendation in the exact price point we asked for.  Total bill:  $108/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Charlie Bird Visited 12/12/2013 4.5 Forks

Charlie Bird 5 King St (b/t MacDougal St & Avenue Of The Americas), New York, NY 10012

At first Charlie Bird was a hard one to figure out. First, the name of it doesn't really give a good idea of what kind of food to expect but upon further inspection of the menu it did seem to have more of an Italian slant.  But when you walk in there the music was heavily focused on hip hop/rap which is an interesting soundtrack to an Italian restaurant in the Soho/West Village area.  Secondly, when I walked in the host basically told me that there was no way I was getting a table that night without a reservation. Great, but I appreciated her honesty vs. telling me it's a 3 hour wait.  So I sat down at the bar while I waited for Joaquin and Nancy.  Luckily when all 3 of us where there, the hostess did say that we could sit at the bar and order dinner if we wanted to.  It was freezing outside, so we figured we'd give it a shot.

The menu is divided up into pastas, small plates, vegetables and large plates.  Per the recommendation of the bartender, we opted to split a few small plates, one pasta and one large dish.  For small plates, we got the farro salad  ($13) and the octopus ($17), for the pasta we got the rigatoni ($20), and for the large entree we got the roasted chicken ($29) plus a side of the brussels sprouts ($8).   The farro salad and octopus came out first as appetizers.  The farro salad was amazing - incredibly fresh, simple and clean tasting.  It was served with pistachio, fresh mint and slices of parmigiano.   It's totally a dish I would try to figure out how to make at home.  It was a great palate cleanser and start to the meal.  The octopus was served grilled with chickpeas, sage, and pieces of proscuitto  The octopus was nicely grilled with just enough toughness without being overly chewy.   Both dishes were a nice start to the meal.  The pasta, chicken and brussels sprouts came out next as our main dishes. The pasta was served with a nice veal ragu.  It was definitely a pretty hearty pasta, but my two complaints would be that there wasn't enough meat to the ragu and the pasta was just a smidge too al dente for me.  But the true star of the night was the roasted chicken.  I know what you are thinking.  How can chicken be that good? But seriously, this chicken was one of the best chicken dishes I've had in a long time.  It was the epitome of a perfectly moist chicken on the inside with a nice crispiness to the skin on the outside.  It was sliced into manageable chunks which made it really easy to share among the table.  It was simply fantastic and is what is carrying the high rating of this review.  The brussels sprouts were fine but a bit overly cooked to the point where they shrank to a too small size.

We were all so full by the end our meal that we didn't have room for dessert.  While the prices are a bit high (I mean we did pay almost $30 for what was probably less than half a chicken), the tastiness of the farro salad and chicken were worth the price and the annoying non-table situation.  Definitely save yourself the headache of trying to wait it out for table and make yourself a reservation here.  Total bill:  $55/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Spain Restaurant Visited 12/10/2013 2.5 Forks

Spain Restaurant  113 W 13th St (b/t Avenue Of The Americas & 7th Ave), New York, NY 10011

Spain is one of those restaurants that you really want to like.  It's on a very cute street in the Village, it's tucked away on the bottom floor of a brownstone and when you walk in the waitstaff are all really old men who seem to have worked there for 50 years.  Plus everyone there seems like they have been coming here for years - so it just has this really homey feel.  But sadly, it's not a home I think I will come back to. 

It's kind of chaotic when you walk in because there's no host or any organization.  This cute old man asked us if we wanted to sit in the front or back and before we could say anything he just squeezed us into this table in the corner.  We sit down and he immediately asks "you want wine?"- which is definitely not a bad thing but I just needed a minute to really get situated.  Instead we opted for a small pitcher of red sangria since we were in a Spanish tapas place.  Luckily we got our drinks quickly but alas no menu appeared for a while.  While the sangria was tasty, it wasn't super strong and went down a bit quickly.  We (or shall I say I) was out of sangria before the meal arrived.  The good thing is that you do get some free tapas while you are waiting: we got a plate of pretty tasty meatballs covered in tomato sauce and a plate of thinly sliced potato with hot sauce on it.   The menu isn't your typical tapas menu, it seemed to have more entree sized dishes than small plates, so my date and I decided to split the paella valenciana which came with seafood, chicken and chorizo.  The waiter did ask if we wanted lobster on top of it, but we declined.  As we were waiting for food, I noticed a lot of very large groups coming in.  It was weird because the place wasn't that big but when I went to the bathroom later I noticed a huge back room that seemed full of 10+ groups.  Usually when you order paella it usually takes a long time to cook, but this one didn't take that much time.  It's a huge order - definitely more than enough for 2 people and I would say it's probably enough food for 3 or 4 people.  At first glance I was really excited because it was chock full of clams, mussels and shrimp.  But sadly, I was really disappointed by the rice which is such a key component to a good paella.  It tasted pretty bland with not a lot of seasoning or flavor.  It almost tasted like the kind of rice you get out of box.  This was pretty disappointing because there was so much of it.  Luckily, the seafood part was pretty decent - I thought the clams and mussels were the best part.  It was nice that there were lots of bits of shrimp, but they were all a bit overcooked and dried out.  I felt bad leaving almost half of the dish on the table, but it was just too much for me and I wasn't in the mood to sit around for the next few hours hoping that I would be interested in a round 2. 

I had high hopes for this place (and the date!) but sadly neither really lived up to my expectations.  It's not a knock on either the restaurant or my date, I guess just neither were the right fit for me.   The other downside of the restaurant is that it's cash only.  Total bill:  $41 total with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Cafe Petisco Visited 12/7/2013 3.5 Forks

Cafe Petisco 189 E Broadway (b/t Canal St & Rutgers St), New York, NY 10002

Cafe Petisco is in this area that straddles Chinatown and the Lower East Side and I gotta say, I've never really spent much time here except in passing on my way to Golden Unicorn.  It's in interesting neighborhood that's still got this authentic New York gritty feel but you can definitely tell that it's starting to get gentrified with a bunch of pretty hip brunch places.  Nicole and I tried to first go to Dimes, which is this tiny health focused restaurant but unfortunately as we stepped out to get a cup coffee and they gave our table away.  So we walked down the street to Cafe Petisco and I was surprised at how packed it was here too.  We had to wait about 15-20 minutes for a table.  The menu here has a Middle Eastern/Mediterranean focus which I love.  There were tons and tons of delicious sounding dishes (lots of them had avocado in it! who doesn't love avocados?!) that I was a bit overwhelmed.  They had a lot of traditional lunch options of pita sandwiches, burgers, salads, hummus platters, cous cous dishes, and a variety of pastas as well as brunch only dishes like eggs benedict, shakshuka, and poached eggs. 

I finally settled on an omelet with goat cheese, roasted red peppers, spinach and smoked salmon ($9) and Nicole got the Petisco's eggs ($11) and we both got a side of Israeli salad.  Everything comes with a great small mixed green salad that is dressed with a vinaigrette dressing - I loved it because you could really taste the tang of the dressing but it wasn't so heavily dressed that you thought it was drowning in it.  The main reason I got the omelet was for the goat cheese and salmon and it didn't disappoint in that they were both very present in the dish.  While I'm not a huge roasted red pepper fan, it did add a some nice flavor to the dish.  My only complaint about the dish was that I thought that the eggs were a bit overcooked/dry, so it wasn't as soft or fluffy as I would usually like my eggs.  But I took bites of the refreshing Israeli salad to brighten up my palate.  The salad was a nice combination of fresh and finely diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and parsley.  I didn't try Nicole's dish but it looked like a yummy egg pizza - it was a circular serving of egg with asparagus, heart of palm, and tomato topped with a melted mozzarella cheese and an arugula salad.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with this place given its random location.  The place was consistently packed with hipsters and older locals, so a nice mix of the old and new generations.  The only 2 gripes I would have are that the service is a bit slow and it's cash only.  Total bill:  $35 total for 2 people including coffee

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Barbuto Visited 12/6/2013 3 Forks

Barbuto 775 Washington St (between Jane St & 12th St) New York, NY

Barbuto is one of those classic NYC staple restaurants that's been around for a while and despite not being new anymore, always seems packed.  I finally decided to check it out on a Friday night with Holly at 7pm and it was definitely super crowded despite the rainy crappy weather outside.  We waited about 30 minutes for a table since we didn't have a reservation but it was easy enough to wait it out by the bar.  What initially drew me to this place was the cool space - it is designed to look like the inside of a garage with the garage doors still intact but with lots of windows to give it a bright airy feel. 

The menu is Italian focused, and while it is fairly limited it does change seasonally.   We started with the bruschetta with mushroom, ricotta and balsamic vinegar ($12) for an appetizer.  I was torn between getting the pork loin and the saffron risotto with pancetta and rock shrimp so I asked the waiter for his opinion.  He said that these were his two favorite dishes on the menu and looked totally pained at having to choose but said that the risotto probably wouldn't be on the menu for too much longer and that the pork loin usually stays in rotation longer, so I opted for the risotto ($21).  Meanwhile, Holly opted for the hanger steak with escarole ($26).  The bruschetta came out and there were 4 fairly decent sized pieces to it, which is nice since usually most places just give you 2 pieces.  I really enjoyed this dish.  The bread was perfectly soft in the middle but with the right amount of crunch to the crust.  The mushroom was very hearty - in fact I mistook it for meat at first.  I particularly liked the combination of the ricotta and the delicious and very aged thick balsamic vinegar.  I could have eaten spoonfuls of the ricotta and balsamic vinegar and been just as happy.  Holly did mention that some of the mushrooms were a bit too blackened for her taste which gave it a slightly burnt flavor and texture.  After these delicious bites, I was excited for my risotto.  Honestly, I usually don't get risotto very often nor is it necessarily my favorite dish, but the waiter was so enthusiastic about it, that I just had to try it.  The portion size was relatively small but that was probably a good thing considering how unhealthy risotto is in general.  I was originally intrigued by the description of it being saffron flavored but it seemed like it was really more saffron in color vs. in taste.  The texture of it was done right in that it was creamy but not overly mushy. The pieces of pancetta added a lot of salt to the dish - almost a bit too much.  While I was most excited by the addition of the rock shrimp, I was disappointed to see that the shrimp was chopped up into small pieces vs. being served whole.  The dish just didn't seem to showcase the shrimp very well.  The dish wasn't bad but it did make me kind of wish that I had ordered the pork loin instead. Apparently the best dish on the menu is the chicken, so maybe sticking with meat based dishes here is the way to go.  I tried a piece of Holly's hanger steak which did help to fill me up a bit.  She had ordered it medium but it looked a bit more on the medium rare side but it wasn't a big enough deal to send it back.  While the flavor of the steak was pretty good, it was a bit on the chewy side and instead of slicing it nice and thin, it was presented in more like 3-4 big hunks of steak, so Holly had to do a bit of work cutting to get them to the right bite size pieces.  I didn't try the escarole but Holly did make a point of saying that she really enjoyed it.

Usually when I eat a heavy pasta dish, I don't have room for dessert, but I was still hungry after my entree, so we opted to go for some dessert.  We were torn between the caramel pudding and the rum babba, so based on the recommendation from our waiter we opted for a rum baba with chestnut ice cream ($9).  I am a huge lover and fan of rum cake and it's been a while since I've had really great rum cake (check out Calliope if you are looking for amazing rum cake), so I was excited to try it out.  The cake was pretty small but fairly boozy and soft.  But what was a bit off putting about the dish was the chestnut ice cream - it had this really grainy texture that was just weird.  I'm not sure if it was actually supposed to be classic ice cream or not, but it just didn't do it for me.  I would have preferred a big dollop of fresh whipped cream instead. 

All in all, it's a great space, a loud and fun crowd and has super friendly waitstaff.  The food wasn't a miss but I kind of left wanting more.  The table next to us got the pork loin and that did look delicious, so if I ever did come back I would probably lean towards getting either the popular chicken or the pork loin.   The prices were also a bit high for what it was but this is the Meatpacking District, so I'm not all that surprised by it.  Total bill:  $60/pp with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  Yelp