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MitchW

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Oh, how the mighty have fallen - even though it has taken a long time (about 25 years, actually).  Once, one of our favorite restaurants, with fine service, cooking Roman/Italian food just about right, then falling out of favor for reasons maybe not totally related to food.  

So, before a show at The Bitter End (!!), we decided to pop in for a few bites, as it's just around the corner.

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The apps we started with were pretty good; baccala croquettes and marinated artichokes. No complaints there.

I ordered a special pasta (linguini with Jonah Crab) and here's where things started to go awry:

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Now, I have no problem paying $38 for this pasta (I think they may feel a little guilty about charging so much, but then they've basically doubled the portion size), but enough with the bread crumbs!  And so much Jonah crab - which was basically tasteless. Kind of a hot mess, as was Significant Eater's ricotta gnocchi, which lacked both sausage and fennel in the sauce, at least to our taste.

We didn't order secondi, as how can one eat another full plate of food after so much pasta?  So maybe the play here is to order apps and secondi?

Oh, lest I forget - don't order the broccoli rabe...this is how it is served:

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And this is how it ended up:

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Impossible to eat, as it wasn't cut into any sort of pieces, which if you are going to not cook broccoli rabe as they do in Rome, is a necessity. I could not cut this broccoli rabe into pieces with the knife I had on the table. Oy.

Note how I cook and serve it at home, if I want it to remain bright green:

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Either that, or cook the hell out of it!

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31 minutes ago, Wilfrid said:

That reminded me that the broccolini I brought home from Foxface got reheated in bacon fat. Always another level 😄

I often cook broccolini without cutting it up as I find it not anywhere near as fibrous as rabe can be.

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10 hours ago, SethG said:

We went last summer - first time since before the pandemic. Pastas (maniche & spaghetti pomodoro) were both borderline inedibly salty.

Oddly, the rabe was the best part of the meal. 

Oh, you got the old rabe chef!

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Two or three years ago, Ginny & I made the rounds of places we used to frequent in "the old days".  We walked out of Lupa shaking our heads, as nothing tasted like anything we'd want again.  On the other hand, Babbo was a pleasant surprise.  

As for the saltiness, I remember discussing that with Dennis (the bartender at Otto) while eating Carbonara at the Otto bar.  Although quite a few people here and elsewhere (& my wife) seemed to not mind the saltiness of the food, it was pretty much agreed that they (Lupa) served things saltier than their siblings.  I always preferred the less salty versions at Otto and Babbo.

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6 hours ago, Steve R. said:

 On the other hand, Babbo was a pleasant surprise.  

 

You just reminded me, I was headed past Babbo last week on the way to a performance at Judson Church. Boy has that micro-neighborhood changed but I couldn’t tell you how recently. A high concentration of desperately down and out street people, nodding junkies. It was like a slice of the Tenderloin (or East 125th on a bad day).

Thirty years ago, Washington Square was a night time drug mart, but I hadn’t seen anything like this in daylight before. 

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9 minutes ago, backyardchef said:

Never once have I ever gone to Eataly.

I've shopped there a few times - produce is very good. And eaten there once, at the seafood restaurant, which was pretty nice if you don't mind eating in a store. (Best eating-in-a-store experience: the Alan Wong restaurant in Macy's in Honolulu, across from the Liz Claiborne section.)

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But Lupa was good, Otto was good apart from the pizza, Del Posto was very good, Po was okay as far as I can remember. My one meal at Babbo was weird, but not the restaurant’s fault.

It’s a thirty year arc. I drink espresso at Eataly, shop for seafood for special occasions. I did once eat in the fancy meat restaurant part.

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5 hours ago, backyardchef said:

So many overrated Batali restaurants. Glad I sidestepped them all these years. Never once have I ever gone to Eataly.

Certainly, Batali was a douche.  But you can’t deny that Lupa, Otto, and Babbo were sorta groundbreaking in the NYC restaurant scene, early in their day.

nor can you deny the great, early FoH teams at Lupa and Otto.  

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On 6/26/2024 at 10:39 PM, MitchW said:

Certainly, Batali was a douche.  But you can’t deny that Lupa, Otto, and Babbo were sorta groundbreaking in the NYC restaurant scene, early in their day.

nor can you deny the great, early FoH teams at Lupa and Otto.  

And Esca. 

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