What I adored about Il Buco Alimentari upon first entering is the decor - it kind of transports you to a place that's not really New York. I can't quite describe what it is but it's cozy yet modern with large communal tables and airy open kitchen but then it's got a cute market type place in the front. I just really enjoyed being there despite it being packed to the gills at 10pm on a Tuesday night. They were kind enough to let me sit at the bar and order a drink while I waited for my friends and even though we were 30 minutes past our reservation time, they didn't give us any shit for it and led us straight to our table. The hostess was super friendly and nice considering how late we were and she even told us stories of how Christina Hendricks of Mad Men fame had come here on her 1st date with her husband and that they hoped to make more love connections at the restaurant.
As you can imagine, the menu here is traditional Italian - a variety of appetizers, salumi, primi, secondi and contorini dishes. Aarti, Deanna and I split the crispy artichokes ($14) and the mushroom dish to start and I got a veal ragu pasta for my entree while Aarti and Deanna both got the Cacio e Pepe ($19) and we also got a side order of crispy polenta ($10) as well. The artichokes were the smaller baby kinds and served with preserved lemon - I enjoyed the crispy outside and tender meat of the inside but I do often think that the leaves are so delicate that they are almost always over cooked which was kind of the case here. But still - a solid appetizer dish. I really loved the mushroom dish - it was a medley of mushrooms sauteed in what must have been 5 sticks of butter. It was heavenly and delicious as the mushrooms were all cooked to perfection with the right amount of firm texture to it. Next came my pasta - it was a long flat noodle pappardelle served with tomato sauce and veal ragu. It was hearty, comforting and the ragu was salty but not too overwhelming. While I really liked my pasta, I looked over to the couple next to me in complete envy - they had ordered the short ribs for 2 and it looked out of this world. It was an enormous serving of short rib on a cutting board and you could just see the meat and bone melting off each other. I wanted to reach over and take a bite of their leftovers. I had a small bite of the Cacio e Pepe and it kind of re-affirmed my thinking that it's just not my favorite pasta. I know it's a Roman classic and it's supposed to be a simple but wonderful dish but I just don't get it. As for the crispy polenta, well, it was kind of weird and totally not what I was thinking. I know it said it was crispy but I totally did not expect it to be a fried cube of polenta. It had a nice crunch to the outside and was still creamy on the inside but I still prefer the nice smooth creamy version instead.
Since it was Deanna's birthday we got the Migliaccio ($11) which was a semolina cake with ricotta and citrus. Semolina is kind of like a lemon/olive oil pound cake - it was good but by this point it was almost midnight and we were all incredibly tired and could barely keep our eyes open.
Overall, Il Buco is a lovely restaurant with a very solid traditional Italian menu. I would just be prepared to sit very close to someone at the communal table and to talk very loudly. Otherwise, you'll be fine. If anyone out there is reading this and wants to try the short rib for two, call me! Total bill: $80/pp with tax, tip and several cocktails.
Photo Credit: Yelp
No comments:
Post a Comment