A little over a month ago, I’d mentioned how much I detest Mario Batali here (skip to the second paragraph). I even mention that in a month’s time, this digression/rant beceomes important; for you see, I had a good idea that B was going to take me to Babbo for my birthday. And he did. (I mention here that he didn’t believe me fully that it was impossible to get reservations; he wound up calling repeatedly, frustrated, for a few days straight in order to get a day/time that was doable for both of us.)
Because B doesn’t eat a lot of things (most fish, raw items, “strange” things, offal, what-have-you; he’s nearly stereotypical “American” in that way), I was hesitant to choose the traditional tasting menu. But when I saw the offerings, I figured there was only one item he might refuse to eat, and that was enough for me.
We also opted to get the matching-wine-tasting menu, which cost only an extra $50 per person, not bad for a complementary 8 flights of wine. The sommelier seemed to pour generously as well, which put me in an awkward situation (while I can hold my liquor, wine affects me slightly differently, immediately making me giddy, talkative, and unable to hold my camera steady. Also, I am by no means an oenophile, and actually prefer to drink most wines solo instead of with food; I find my palate diluted and after a few glasses of wine, all too eager to find every plate delectable…). Fortunately I talked myself out of my frugal mentality of “Finish everything, we paid for it!” into “Well, it’d be an even bigger waste if you got trashed and couldn’t taste everything, or even worse, if you wound up throwing up directly afterwards…” and managed to keep it together (for the most part; after all, we were celebrating my birthday!).
After we’d placed our order, we were served a complimentary amuse bouche of chick pea bruschetta. B doesn’t like whole chick peas, and though I’m not the biggest fan of whole chick peas either, I decided to give it a try. It was very peppery, and a lot “spicier” than I’d thought, good, but not my type of thing, so I was meh on it. I realized later that this was a dish that has been served from the beginning at Babbo (based on a review I glanced at in the restroom), so that was pretty cool.
Our first course arrived shortly after. I was worried a teensy bit because the menu calls it Babbo Culatello with Ramps and Pecorino, and my very, very rudimentary Italian and powers of deduction made me believe culatello is, well, “behind”/butt. It would be hard to convince B to eat butt. When it came, I was relieved to see that whatever it was, it did not look like butt, and in fact, looked much like prosciutto, something he loves (and my research tells me that culatello is indeed behind, but pork behind, so nothing unusual or out of the ordinary for us to eat). B actually particularly enjoyed this dish, while I liked it, but wasn’t particularly mind boggled by it.
This continued for the rest of the night. Maybe my expectations were too high?
I pause to mention here that the wine was flowing… and we were drinking… and that after looking up my friend’s review of Le Bernardin (where she proceeded to throw up her entire meal, once home, from too much wine), I feel even more comfortable asserting that $50/person for the matching wine tastings was a good deal, since at the other 4 star restaurant, it cost $140/person for the wine tasting (also, $155/person for the tasting menu, while Babbo was less than half that). BUT, where she loved every wine she had at Le Bernardin and felt that they more than suited each course, I was only so-so with the wines at Babbo. With a few courses, B pointed out that he could see why the wines were chosen- they echoed back certain flavors in each course- but none of the wines were stand out delicious in my humblest of opinions.
Back to the food.
Our 2nd course, Pappardelle with Porcini and Thyme, took a while to come to us. The glass of Barolo, we both noted, echoed back the woodsy, earthy tones of the porcini mushrooms, but was still a bit tannic for my tastes. (I’m a white wine drinker as well, which does not help the situation.) I loved how fresh the pasta was, and I adore porcini mushrooms- most mushrooms, actually- so I really loved this dish. B liked it as well, even using hunks of bread to mop up sauce to enjoy.
Duck Tortelli with “Sugo Finto” – though I’d had a suspicion this would be more of a pasta dish than a duck dish, I was still slightly disappointed by that. However, the delectably soft pasta was absolutely delicious, and the duck meat, chopped in bits and stuffed inside, was delicious, countering the soft pasta with its own chew very nicely. B had nothing negative to say about this dish, though neither of us liked the wine.
Grilled Venison with Acorn Squash Caponata and Mint Pesto brought about the best reaction from B. He either was reading our menu card at the wrong pace, or I don’t know, mis-remembered the order, but he took one bite and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh, this is the softest duck I’ve ever had!” I giggled delightedly and pointed out that would be great, except this was venison, the one dish I hadn’t been certain he’d eat.
(If you’re a new reader, or if I haven’t mentioned it before, B is terribly picky when it comes to food, and when we met, consumed on a daily basis a mixture of McDonald’s, pizza, and assorted fast food. Over four years later, he is a lot more open-minded about trying new foods, but still has some staunch oppositions to certain things or occasionally will just not be in the mood to try something new. I am so proud of his food journey, in such a dorky way, there is no way to describe it other than pride, because I feel solely responsible for his now being open to eating certain things. And when he makes comments criticizing/praising dishes, with very specific reasons why he likes it or doesn’t like it, my heart just about bursts with joy, because it shows he’s really tasting, really paying attention to what he’s eating.)
As for the venison, it was incredibly tender and soft, but had the slightest hint of gaminess that I don’t appreciate. I’m not a huge fan of game nor venison, so this wasn’t surprising, but it was really soft and that alone impressed me. I didn’t taste the mint pesto very well, though the caponata was delicious.
Coach Farm’s Finest with Fennel Honey was an awful dish for both of us, not because it was bad, per se, but because I am not a huge fan of fennel, and the cheese was slightly “stinkier” than I prefer. B passed on the dish altogether, not liking honey in general (traumatized as a child by huge honey ODs), but I gamely gave it a try and could see why the two would be paired together. Still, I was completely full at this point, and we had three more courses, so I gladly gave up trying to eat it to save room for the next few courses.
Interestingly, though I’ve had Coach Farm cheeses before at various restaurants and venues, I hadn’t realized it was the same Coach as the handbags! (Or rather, from the same people; I don’t believe it’s the same company…)
Pumpkin “Bonet” – we never figured out exactly what bonet meant, but this pumpkin mousse of sorts with buttermilk cream on top was not to B’s liking. The buttermilk, being slightly tart and extremely dense, grossed him out- it tasted much like a dense scoop of butter, actually- and though he likes pumpkin desserts, he just wasn’t that keen on this one. I thought it was alright, not liking pumpkin much to begin with. Also, I was very full and pretty drunk by this time.
The wines they began serving here were also way too thick, heavy and syrupy after 6 courses.
Chocolate “Tartufino” – I guess tartufino is in quotes because normally, tartufino is dipped in chocolate and completely coated, whereas this was just drizzled with chocolate. Either way, the hazelnut totally made me think of nutella, not in a bad way, and I liked this dessert. I think B liked it as well- he inhaled it.
By this point, B and I were exhausted, more than a bit tipsy, and B was anxious to pay the check and get out of there. You see, both of us had subway rides to get back home, and his train had already long ago turned local (which means the time to get home was doubled for him), and the meal was just taking way too long. It’d already been 3 hours, and on a Monday night, this is just too much. But I insisted on staying, of course, until the last dish had been served. While we waited, our waiter came over and noted we hadn’t been served yet- but all of the courses had taken forever to come out- and B asked him to get us the check ASAP. The server brought over our next course, only… it was the same course we’d just been served. We told him as much, and he looked extremely surprised, and subsequently brought out our next and last course.
I’m not sure if he gave us two different ones to make up for this, or what, but we wound up getting the Venetian Apple Cake with Cinnamon Gelato and a chocolate similar-looking dessert.
B barely touched it, saying it was good, but he was just too stuffed and tipsy to eat more than a few nibbles. I tried some of his cake, and really liked it, but unfortunately (especially now, as I look at it and want nothing more than to shove the entire thing in my mouth! oh, the waste!) could not do more than try one bite.
I wasn’t as big a fan of my own dessert, but I tried it and it was good, just not my style.
I could finally say I’ve eaten a meal at Babbo! (Well, and not be lying.)
Overall… the service (or rather, the kitchen) was way too slow (though we weren’t ignored). I understand that we chose to order the 8 course tasting menu, and that tasting menus generally take a long time, but 3.5+ hours is just a bit too long for an 8 course meal. I’ve had various tasting menus at Morimoto and the 10 course omakase only took 2 hours. The pastas were definitely more impressive than any other aspects of the meal; I’d like to go back and order a few different pastas to comprise my meal next time. Yes, I would go back.
Yvo says: Special occasion dining this is. This is currently my 2nd most expensive meal ever (topped only by morimoto special omakase bar, which is also my favorite high-end meal ever, which came in at the same price as Babbo…per person, without alcohol) at $320 total, including tax & tip. I do not eat like this all the time- I can’t afford it, quite honestly, both financially and physically- but I recommend that within your means, eat here at least once (perhaps ordering off the menu instead of the tasting, that way you won’t pay quite as much).
highly recommended for the delicious & fresh pastas
SkippyMom says
This was a fun read, but I was becoming nauseous imagining the wine to go along with the food during this dinner.
I don’t like M.B. either, but then again that is a TV perception as I have never been within subway/taxi ride distance of one of his restaurants…..
…and the chick pea thingy? Run far, run fast is all I can say…fine cuisine indeed. To steal a line from my fav foodie [wink] “Meh!”
Luv ya! and Happy Birthday again!
Linda says
Wow, 2nd most expensive eh?
I read your thing about Batali. It’s soo funny and true – about his old cooking show. It really erks me when he explains certain things in Italian like we are suppose to know what exactly he’s saying. Plus, no matter how much I respect/love a chef, once they open more than 5 restaurants (at the same time) I almost automatically harbor a feeling of snobish/dislike towards them.
Love you posts!
Anonymous says
I had the same, despite few seasonal changes, i went in the spring…paired the wine too (which made me throw up all my dinner a few feet away from the restaurant) food was decent, i had higher expectations, the dessert however surpassed my expectations…the bavarian creme gelato whatever combination i had remains my all time fav..overall, i agree with your opinion, though i had a faster dinner and service 2 hours i think.
Swan says
I loved, loved, loved Babbo. Going to Centro Vinoteca tonight. =) Sure, dinner’s long but you’re there to enjoy the food.
I didn’t know Coach Farms is owned by Coach Co. That’s horrible business diversification. I started liking cheese with honey after frequenting Batali’s restaurants.
Thanks for the reminder of my stomach problems from last year. =P
Btw, your google ads is sporting “gay friendly car dealers”
TulsaTami says
OMG! I just did a search for Coach’s Farm finest because the course that had the most haunting memory was the cheese with fennel honey. I, too, was there for my October birthday. I celebrated with my daughter, my cousin and her daughter and another cousin. We all loved it! (Although admittedly we also had too much to drink, as we swore that this course was served with a wine that perfectly matched the honey.) In fact, we just couldn’t drink the wines as fast as they kept coming and we overlapped on a couple of courses.
Our group loved the entire meal and thought the wine pairing was a real deal with the food. We live in Tulsa, Oklahoma a tasting menu like this from a noted chef would cost twice as much.
Our service was very nice for our group of 5 and the pace of such a large meal was perfect in approx 2.5 hours. A meal like this is an experience and not something to be done having other plans. Definitely needing to walk or dance afterwards. Our waiter was very rehearsed in his presentation although I doubt he knew much first hand. The sommelier was superb. Overall a wonderful experience.
Food, she thought. says
Thank you for the review. We went to Babbo a few years back and loved every morsel. We are also going to B&B in Vegas in a couple weeks for our anniversary, and your review reminds me that I rarely enjoy tasting menus (my palate is developed enough to order well from the menu) nor do I love wine pairings. Unlike you, I am a huge drinker and burgeoning oenephile (knowing enough to know i know nothing) and I prefer to order wine to accompany my courses rather than having someone else’s taste buds choose.
And thank you for the stunning pics. The venison looks delicious!
Rich says
This is the first time I’ve ever read a restaurant review that made me queasy. Hope you don’t do this for a living, that would be sad.
Feisty Foodie says
Thanks Rich! Care to elaborate on why it made you queasy?