247 replies to this topic

[Sneakeater]

I couldn't help but be struck by these two remarks in Kim Davis's comparison of the porchetta at IBA and Porchetta in The Local, concluding that IBA's is better:

[At IBA] (all the breads are baked in-house)

[At Porchetta] The ciabatta roll is brought in.

[Lippy]

I couldn't help but be struck by these two remarks in Kim Davis's comparison of the porchetta at IBA and Porchetta in The Local, concluding that IBA's is better:

[At IBA] (all the breads are baked in-house)

[At Porchetta] The ciabatta roll is brought in.

note to self: confirm with Wilf that I've convinced him that in a sandwich, the bread does matter.

[Orik]

Well, they have a list of composed appetizers, some of which look very interesting - fried rabbit, black pepper, honey, lemon - they have some pastas. When it comes to mains, you can get the porchetta or short ribs from their panini as a plate. Or chicken, or fish.

But I guess that counts as a full menu.

Had dinner there last night.

For the sake of our readers at home, if you've gotten the impression from reading this thread that IBA is a sandwich joint, then you've just experienced your first case of MF alternative reality. (maybe you've witnessed it before when Minetta Tavern was pronounced half-empty, not doing so well, easy to get into)

IBA is a full service restaurant with a dozen or so appetizers, six pastas, four main courses, and some number of desserts. Yes, you can buy sandwiches too, or cold cuts by the gram, but I don't see anyone here claiming that Roscioli, or any of the Eataly restaurants are not restaurants because you can get panini or cold cuts.

This doesn't mean that it's a well functioning restaurant - dishes seem to come from multiple kitchens and the deli counter, with no coordination mechanism, so be prepared to get you great fried bacala appetizer with your cold cuts, your superb black bass crudo after your spaghetti with bottarga (neat trick, turning the bottarga into a sort of Ikra/Tarama to be used as sauce), and then nothing for a long while until your short rib (very good interior, insufferably salty exterior, I suspect even for salt lovers) shows up, with good fried polenta... but they seem to be aware of the situation and quite apologetic, maybe it'll improve at some point. They also maintain that Il Buco design where every table is a bad table.

The late dinner crowd is much more Bond Street than the Milan by way of Costa del Sol folks you see there earlier in the day (courtesy of the hotels on the Bowery I imagine)

I'll write a bit more later.

p.s. it'd be interesting for Adrian to see how a completely non-hipster, non-ironic, non-tongue-in-cheek operation manages to produce professional charcuterie.

[Wilfrid]

I am grateful to Eater for letting me know this had been published.

In which I take on IBA's mighty porchetta panino.

[oakapple]

The late dinner crowd is much more Bond Street than the Milan by way of Costa del Sol folks you see there earlier in the day (courtesy of the hotels on the Bowery I imagine)

Question for the IBA cognoscenti: was it always thus, or has the Wells review changed the client mix?

[Orik]

I am grateful to Eater for letting me know this had been published.

In which I take on IBA's mighty porchetta panino.

There's a growing body of evidence that people just don't want to serve you meat sandwiches.

Anyway, I liked the food, and thought it was better than Il Buco (not hard), and better than Hearth although Hearth tries harder.

The charcuterie is well made, none of that uneven curing and other problems you often see in lesser programs, and not oversalted like many well regarded American hams. Still far from the top European product, but there's hope. Also, there's a really funny looking blurb on the menu about their pig sourcing - it was probably supposed to say Flying Pigs and Cane Creek, but then something happened and it was changed to Eco friendly farms and Cane Creek. In any event, the pork seemed less lean than commodity pork, but not as marbled as I'd think it should be if it was ossabaw (which I think is what Cane Creek raises).

They also carry Iberico, which is kind of brave of them. The deli guy was awesome, by the way, you should make friends with him.

[Wilfrid]

I am grateful to Eater for letting me know this had been published.

In which I take on IBA's mighty porchetta panino.

There's a growing body of evidence that people just don't want to serve you meat sandwiches.

If you have a long memory, it's even funnier than that. My first visit to Porchetta, they had no bread.

[Wilfrid]

I did try some salami (which the Local didn't need me to write about) and it was indeed very good. The breads are outstanding (I tried a couple). Orik sums up the disjointed nature of the place; you can get porchetta if you sit down, not if you stand up; the bar runs out of glasses every five minutes; servers are asking each other who is going to pick up from (wherever) and where are the dessert menus?

Obviously, I didn't experience it before the Wells review, but I assume a sharply increased volume of business is causing some strains.

Nice wines by the glass too (with stemware!).

[Orik]

I am grateful to Eater for letting me know this had been published.

In which I take on IBA's mighty porchetta panino.

There's a growing body of evidence that people just don't want to serve you meat sandwiches.

If you have a long memory, it's even funnier than that. My first visit to Porchetta, they had no bread.

Yup, between that, Mile End, and now IBA... At least Katz never runs out.

[Wilfrid]

You mean, when they told me they had no pastrami or rye bread, they were lying...?

[oakapple]

If I walk in at 6pm, am I crazy?

[Wilfrid]

If you're okay with the bar, you might have a chance. I didn't count the tables, but there aren't that many.

[Sneakeater]

Question for the IBA cognoscenti: was it always thus, or has the Wells review changed the client mix?

In my three pre-Wells experiences, the late dinner crowd was always me, anyone I happened to be with, and four or five other people.

Actually, one time, the four or five other people comprised one of the weirdest crowds I ever saw in a restaurant. They were four people sitting at a table together. I thought they were all friends who came together, but when they left, the two couples left separately and it became clear they'd just met. The men and women composing each couple were the opposite of what I'd thought, watching them interact over dinner. One of the men was aging Eurotrash.

[Sneakeater]

For the sake of our readers at home, if you've gotten the impression from reading this thread that IBA is a sandwich joint, then you've just experienced your first case of MF alternative reality. (maybe you've witnessed it before when Minetta Tavern was pronounced half-empty, not doing so well, easy to get into)

Just to quote one earlier post:

To be fair, many of those tweets are based on Eater's usual ignorance. This place isn't a sandwich shop. It's a full-service restaurant. (Of course, as Oakapple has shown, the Times' slideshow hasn't helped correct this misimpression.)

[Orik]

If you're okay with the bar, you might have a chance. I didn't count the tables, but there aren't that many.

Did you miss the back room? I think there are over 40 seats around tables, although only a couple of them are two tops. There seemed to be another room on the second floor where a huge party must have been seated judging by the number of desserts I saw going up.