Just reporting in on another one of those over the top lunches, one I had the pleasure of enjoying today. I hope you're all feeling hungry. As has often happened in the past, when I visit some downtown serious international foodie clients, the meeting is centered around a great meal. The two folks who run the operation, and are my clients, are seriously into great food and great wine, and, it helps that they seem to have a bottomless budget for entertaining, so price is no object.
Barolo is a better than nice place, but not generally regarded as one of the high end Italian restaurants downtown. However, what it does have is a garden area out back(you can check it out at their website www.nybarolo.com ) which on a nice spring day is absolutely fabulous. Something about sitting comfortably outside aiding the digestive experience and liberating the nose and tastebuds. In this case the sun was out though still about 5 degrees too cool to sit comfortably. But, they had a series of those outdoor heaters using propane which work wonders. We were just the right distance away from the nearest one so that the temperature was true goldilocks, not too hot and not too cold.
On arriving we sat and immediately, the big boss, an American and an accomplished oenophile, took on the wine list and picked one of the really fine Barolo's on the wine list. For those not up on their Italian wines, Barolo comes from the North Western corner of Italy, near France, and is a huge bodied wine with a high alcohol content. The wine that he picked was a 1999 Pio Cesare Barolo of some merit(and 14% alcohol content as well). Before we started our food, apart from the delicious bread and rolls, we had already begun to sip the wine, which was outrageously delicious and overwhelmingly aromatic in the huge balloon glasses we were given.
I started with the knowledge that whatever I ordered food wise had to be able to stand up to the very powerful wine we were drinking. So, for my appetizer I picked a POLPO CON PATATE E OLIVE NERE which is Octopus served warm with potatoes and pitted Gaeta olives.
The other two ordered a tuna tartare, which was arranged like a Napoleon with layers of sushi grade raw tuna, a pastry base, italian style guacamole and more tuna. This group is from the sharers and forks passed back and forth on several occasions so that everyone could taste everything to their satisfaction.
The Octopus was grilled lightly so that while it still had a significant mouth feel, once your teeth overcame the surface tension it was moist and tender, with a hint of the char from the grilling. It was tossed in a light vinaigrette with small cubes of al dente potato and tender pitted italian olives. Served still warm it was so good that I needed to use the bread so sop up the remaining juices when it was done. The tuna tartare was also very good with the guacamole, made with a taste of some red pepper, mixing very well with the raw tuna. Perhaps spicy guacamole is the Italian equivalent to Wasabe.
The next course was the pasta course. By the time that this course came we were already working on our second bottle of the Barolo which kept on giving throughout the meal. I was guided by my hosts to a Rigatoni alla Buttera with a sweet and spicy sausage and peas, tomato and cream. I had been looking for something hardy which would be complemented by and stand up to the Barolo. This gutsy pasta dish, with the rigatoni truly perfectly al dente, was delicious. The sauce was so good I had to call for more of the deliciously soft and eggy bread to sop up the last remnants of sausage and sauce on the plate. The others ordered their own pastas, one of them an amazing home made farfalle with squid ink. FARFALLE NERE AL SALMONE, Homemade squid ink bow-tie pasta with asparagus and smoked salmon. The waiter confirmed, under close cross examination from the big boss that the farfalle pasta(butterfly or bowtie shaped) was made fresh in the kitchen from scratch with squid ink(to give it the black color and slightly fishy taste) and then had a very piquant garlicky/peppery sauce with salmon and asparagus tips to stand up to the very strident briny flavor of the squid ink in the farfalles. It was an interesting and unusual taste, but more salty then I generally prefer.
For the Secondi Piatti(Second or Main Course) I chose the ORECCHIA D'ELEFANTE, a pounded veal chop Milanese style with mizuna and avocado puree. The mizuna is a simple salad with mesclun type baby greens, thinly ringed red onion and a light vinaigrette. The avocado puree was the same slightly spicy italian style guacamole from the tuna tartare. The veal chop is an amusing carnivores confection, taking a rib veal chop and pounding it within an millimeter of its life so that it expands to the size of a small tennis racquet, or as you might gather, looks like an elephants ear(which is the translation of the Italian name of the dish). It is then lightly breaded and fried, a wienerschitzel on the bone. Served with a half a lemon to be squeezed across its surface(milanese style) it was exactly as it should be. The flavor of the veal was clean and fresh and supplemented with a very thin breading and the hint of citrus added by the lemon juice. Despite its thinness it was a serious portion of veal, which after the two earlier courses required some serious stick-to-itiveness to finish down to the bone.
The big boss also ordered the veal, but the other other boss, a woman only small in physical size, ordered the fritto misto di pesce, with skillfully fried shrimp and calamari(both totally succulent and not at all chewy) as well as zucchini straws which were crunchy and delicious.
As all of this was carted away and the second bottle of the wine reached its bottom, with only small sips left in each of the glasses, the big boss began lobbying for dessert. After he was unable to procure some mango from the kitchen a well known digestif(in addition to being really tasty), he settled for some mixed berries. Or at least at first he did and I joined along with him. When the dish of berries arrived he looked at it for a second and asked the waiter to now bring each of us a shot of chambord. A minute later, when this arrived, he demonstrated how to carefully pour the black raspberry liqueur around the top of of the berries until fully poured in. So, a few bites of this showed that it certainly added some zest and flavor to a relatively tired group of blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. But, he still wasnt satisfied, so he called over the waiter yet again and summoned a scoop of vanilla ice cream for each of us, which the waiter quickly produced and ladled onto each of our dishes. Clearly it was a wonderful addition. But, just about anything under a scoop of vanilla ice cream and swimming in Chambord would be pretty good.
A quick single espresso with just a nice touch of crema on the top really put me in a fine mood.
Still, the big boss wasnt satisfied that the meal was over and asked the waiter if they had a bottle of 1980 port. The waiter returned with a bottle of Sandman 1980 port and two glasses and yet another highlight was added to the meal. The sweet complex smokiness of the port was delightful. It really rounded out the meal and allowed a few moments of quiet reflection on how good life really could be.
The only thing better than the food was the check picked up by the client without any hesitation. Particularly good since the bill for the three of us with tax and tip was in the mid $600 range.
And then, a bit over two hours after wed started to dine we carefully picked ourselves up to make our way out into the warm New York afternoon, bellies full, good friends and with a wonderful dining experience to relate
Barolo is a better than nice place, but not generally regarded as one of the high end Italian restaurants downtown. However, what it does have is a garden area out back(you can check it out at their website www.nybarolo.com ) which on a nice spring day is absolutely fabulous. Something about sitting comfortably outside aiding the digestive experience and liberating the nose and tastebuds. In this case the sun was out though still about 5 degrees too cool to sit comfortably. But, they had a series of those outdoor heaters using propane which work wonders. We were just the right distance away from the nearest one so that the temperature was true goldilocks, not too hot and not too cold.
On arriving we sat and immediately, the big boss, an American and an accomplished oenophile, took on the wine list and picked one of the really fine Barolo's on the wine list. For those not up on their Italian wines, Barolo comes from the North Western corner of Italy, near France, and is a huge bodied wine with a high alcohol content. The wine that he picked was a 1999 Pio Cesare Barolo of some merit(and 14% alcohol content as well). Before we started our food, apart from the delicious bread and rolls, we had already begun to sip the wine, which was outrageously delicious and overwhelmingly aromatic in the huge balloon glasses we were given.
I started with the knowledge that whatever I ordered food wise had to be able to stand up to the very powerful wine we were drinking. So, for my appetizer I picked a POLPO CON PATATE E OLIVE NERE which is Octopus served warm with potatoes and pitted Gaeta olives.
The other two ordered a tuna tartare, which was arranged like a Napoleon with layers of sushi grade raw tuna, a pastry base, italian style guacamole and more tuna. This group is from the sharers and forks passed back and forth on several occasions so that everyone could taste everything to their satisfaction.
The Octopus was grilled lightly so that while it still had a significant mouth feel, once your teeth overcame the surface tension it was moist and tender, with a hint of the char from the grilling. It was tossed in a light vinaigrette with small cubes of al dente potato and tender pitted italian olives. Served still warm it was so good that I needed to use the bread so sop up the remaining juices when it was done. The tuna tartare was also very good with the guacamole, made with a taste of some red pepper, mixing very well with the raw tuna. Perhaps spicy guacamole is the Italian equivalent to Wasabe.
The next course was the pasta course. By the time that this course came we were already working on our second bottle of the Barolo which kept on giving throughout the meal. I was guided by my hosts to a Rigatoni alla Buttera with a sweet and spicy sausage and peas, tomato and cream. I had been looking for something hardy which would be complemented by and stand up to the Barolo. This gutsy pasta dish, with the rigatoni truly perfectly al dente, was delicious. The sauce was so good I had to call for more of the deliciously soft and eggy bread to sop up the last remnants of sausage and sauce on the plate. The others ordered their own pastas, one of them an amazing home made farfalle with squid ink. FARFALLE NERE AL SALMONE, Homemade squid ink bow-tie pasta with asparagus and smoked salmon. The waiter confirmed, under close cross examination from the big boss that the farfalle pasta(butterfly or bowtie shaped) was made fresh in the kitchen from scratch with squid ink(to give it the black color and slightly fishy taste) and then had a very piquant garlicky/peppery sauce with salmon and asparagus tips to stand up to the very strident briny flavor of the squid ink in the farfalles. It was an interesting and unusual taste, but more salty then I generally prefer.
For the Secondi Piatti(Second or Main Course) I chose the ORECCHIA D'ELEFANTE, a pounded veal chop Milanese style with mizuna and avocado puree. The mizuna is a simple salad with mesclun type baby greens, thinly ringed red onion and a light vinaigrette. The avocado puree was the same slightly spicy italian style guacamole from the tuna tartare. The veal chop is an amusing carnivores confection, taking a rib veal chop and pounding it within an millimeter of its life so that it expands to the size of a small tennis racquet, or as you might gather, looks like an elephants ear(which is the translation of the Italian name of the dish). It is then lightly breaded and fried, a wienerschitzel on the bone. Served with a half a lemon to be squeezed across its surface(milanese style) it was exactly as it should be. The flavor of the veal was clean and fresh and supplemented with a very thin breading and the hint of citrus added by the lemon juice. Despite its thinness it was a serious portion of veal, which after the two earlier courses required some serious stick-to-itiveness to finish down to the bone.
The big boss also ordered the veal, but the other other boss, a woman only small in physical size, ordered the fritto misto di pesce, with skillfully fried shrimp and calamari(both totally succulent and not at all chewy) as well as zucchini straws which were crunchy and delicious.
As all of this was carted away and the second bottle of the wine reached its bottom, with only small sips left in each of the glasses, the big boss began lobbying for dessert. After he was unable to procure some mango from the kitchen a well known digestif(in addition to being really tasty), he settled for some mixed berries. Or at least at first he did and I joined along with him. When the dish of berries arrived he looked at it for a second and asked the waiter to now bring each of us a shot of chambord. A minute later, when this arrived, he demonstrated how to carefully pour the black raspberry liqueur around the top of of the berries until fully poured in. So, a few bites of this showed that it certainly added some zest and flavor to a relatively tired group of blackberries, strawberries and blueberries. But, he still wasnt satisfied, so he called over the waiter yet again and summoned a scoop of vanilla ice cream for each of us, which the waiter quickly produced and ladled onto each of our dishes. Clearly it was a wonderful addition. But, just about anything under a scoop of vanilla ice cream and swimming in Chambord would be pretty good.
A quick single espresso with just a nice touch of crema on the top really put me in a fine mood.
Still, the big boss wasnt satisfied that the meal was over and asked the waiter if they had a bottle of 1980 port. The waiter returned with a bottle of Sandman 1980 port and two glasses and yet another highlight was added to the meal. The sweet complex smokiness of the port was delightful. It really rounded out the meal and allowed a few moments of quiet reflection on how good life really could be.
The only thing better than the food was the check picked up by the client without any hesitation. Particularly good since the bill for the three of us with tax and tip was in the mid $600 range.
And then, a bit over two hours after wed started to dine we carefully picked ourselves up to make our way out into the warm New York afternoon, bellies full, good friends and with a wonderful dining experience to relate
