Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Babbo
That's Mario, had he been there to greet us, he would be apologizing for my having to continually redial to get through to a "reservationist" for 35 minutes, starting at 10:00 A.M., precisely 30 days prior to our desired dinner date. But then Babbo is a lot more democratic then most highly regarded New York restaurants; you can get a weekend dinner reservation ("call precisely 30 days prior etc."), they make a point of informing you that there is no dress code, and there is a wide range of moderately priced wines. Two can also eat and drink very well for about $150.Between us we had roasted porcini with arugula, and beef cheek ravioli as first courses, branzini roasted with lemon and olive oil, and sauted sweetbreads were main courses, with safron panna cotta for dessert.
All excellent, but for me the defining moment was the arrival of the main course. First The Editor's roasted branzini was presented on a serving platter for inspection, then brought to the captain's station for deboning, a process that took about 5 or 6 minutes while I wondered where my sweetbreads were. But at precisely the instant that the captain presented the deboned branzini to The Editor, my sweetbreads landed. Simultaneous arrival; must take a lot of practice.
# posted by ira @ 1:20 PM 
