Babbo

What can you say about Batali's flagship except make a res and go immediately. Babbo, in a smallish two-level townhouse in the Village, is always packed, and typically has a several-hour wait for seats at the postage-stamp bar in front. The reservation line is open a month to the date beforehand, so typically you get to spend that time dreaming of calf's brains francobolli and the like while anticipation steadily grows.

There are three ways to go through Babbo - all will leave you very full, and potentially much lighter in the wallet. The first two are the standard paths - one of the two tasting menus (a pasta menu for $69 and a traditional tasting for $79) offer a generous feel of Batali's style and excessiveness (the pasta tasting menu portions aren't that much smaller than the a la carte versions). Budget 2+ hours, and don't plan on doing anything afterwards but rolling home. The second option is to have one each of the Antipasti, Primi, and Secondi. Again, a lot of food, but you will leave very happy. The third avenue, my favorite, is to stick to what made Batali famous - the pastas. We went with a group of 4 and managed to try six different pastas...a sort of do-it-yourself pasta menu that was much easier on the stomach, the wallet, and the schedule.

The only non-pasta dishes we tried were the famous warm lamb's tongue vinaigrette, fabulously tender tongue and mushrooms so flavorful it was a little hard to tell which was which, and a braised fennel salad to whet the appetite. Then came the pastas. Garganelli with mixed mushrooms was wonderfully thin and light, the cigar-shaped rolls delicately holding their form and paired with a simple light cream and wild mushroom sauce. Mint love letters, a Batali signature, didn't disappoint - envelope-shaped pastas with a minty and slightly spicy lamb puree. Sphagettini with lobster was also slightly spicy if a bit ordinary. One slightly down note was the bucatini with guanciale - the guanciale was perfectly cooked but was so delicate it couldn't quite stand up to the amount of fresh parsley in the dish. The highlight of the evening was the beef cheek ravioli, always a crowd pleaser, it gets the full treatment with a braised beef and red wine sauce and black truffles - so every bite explodes in a depth of flavor that just makes you feel decadent. After the last bite we sat quietly for a minute, digesting the food, imprinting the flavor and decadence into our minds, and trying to figure out how old Ryan Seacrest's companion was sitting a few tables away.

The wine list at Babbo is quite daunting, but the sommeliers are very helpful and pointed us to a 2004 Barberesco for under $100 that was wonderfully drinkable but still able to stand up nicely to the richer pastas. That said, there are about 10 of 500 wines on the list that are under $100, so the choices are limited.

Babbo is simply fantastic. I'm quite shocked that it didn't get a Michelin star in the latest iteration, but I've always been suspicious of those Michelin folks. It remains very near the top of my list of favorite restaurants in the city and one of the best for a special occaision. Go.

The Sage Questions
Date Spot? Yes
Good for Groups? Not really
When Parents Visit? Yes
Cost? $10-$20 Apps, $20-$25 Pastas, $23-$30 mains
Wines under $100? Precious few, but very helpful sommeliers
Rating: 4

Convivio

This former L'Impero space in Tudor City has recently been overhauled by new owner Michael White, marginally modernized, and re-christened Convivio. The room is slightly darker than before but still is covered with random draperies, and as before more than half the crowd looked to be from the blue-haired set. The service was also a bit stilted - they first tried to sit four of us at a two-top, then replenished our bread three times before our order was taken - but the food certainly made up for it.

The menu is organized as a four course tasting ($59) which seemed quite reasonable. The meal started on an adventurous note, with antipasti that included duck heart salad (a touch gamey but surprisingly tender, and plentiful) and poached veal tongue (mixed reviews here - "bologna with pesto") along with some more standard options. Then came the pasta course, and along with it the reminders of why the chef has been compared to Mario Batali. Fusilli with pork shoulder and a mildly spicy tomato sauce was light enough until you hit the nuggets of meat that melt sublimely in your mouth. The macherroni carbonara was rich without being cumbersome - a light cream sauce nimbly accented with deeply salty pancetta. The tortelli with guanciale was impossibly thin and finished with a pepper and percorino dash that reminded one of L'Impero's now-forgotten spaghetti with salt and pepper - one of the simpler pleasures of days gone by. The only disappointment was a sea bass tortellini which tasted fishy, had a bit of a heavy-handed gremolata garnish, and paled in comparison to the other pastas. The mains had a tough act to follow, but managed to hold their own with a mammoth ribeye steak, a now-ubiquitous braised short rib, and sauteed fresh fish for lighter fare. All were passable, none were particularly memorable. Dessert was included as part of the prix fixe, but as usual will be left to sweeter-toothed reviewers to opine on.

The wine list is extensive but most of the sub-$100 bottles were unfamiliar, generally from lesser-known-to-me areas such as Sicilia and Puglia. No matter, we ended up with a 2004 Gevrey Chambertin in that price range which worked out nicely.

All told, its the pastas that will bring me back. And back I will be.

The Sage Questions
Date Spot? Yes
Good for Groups? No
When Parents Visit? Yes
Cost? $59 prix-fixe
Wines under $100? Several but lesser-known
Rating: 3