Italian Garage - Barbuto

Barbuto - 775 Washington St. (West Village)

The Scene:

Barbuto is set in a refurbished garage with garage door and everything!

The kitchen...

Happy Restaurant week everyone!

Like everyone in NYC, my schedule is very busy.  But me and my "Tarheel friend" (that's like an oxymoron to a Dukie like myself) finally got in the books for a rendezvous.  In a change of pace, I let her pick the location of the meeting and she selected Barbuto, an Italian restaurant owned by chef, restaurateur, and author Jonathan Waxman. Waxman appeared on Top Chef Masters, where he placed 4th from 18 competitors.  I was crunk to attend.

Both of us had grandiose plans of working out, so we decided drink not to and to split everything.  #cheapermeal

Antipasti - Polenta topped w/ Lamb Ragu

I must confess, I am still a novice in Italian food, so when Tarheel suggested polenta, I was a little apprehensive.  The polenta dish was comprised of soft polenta, marscapone cheese, mushrooms and lamb ragu over which pecorino (that bomb cheese that I will be copping next time I'm at Whole Foods) was sprinkled.  The dish was very flavorful. For my Southern folk, think high-quality cheese grits. You can taste each polenta bit .  The lamb ragu was very tender.   Ragu, to me, means "braised to the 15th power".  At times, the unique texture of lamb can be distracting to the taste.  The ragu style allowed us to focus on the robust flavor.

Primi - Gnocchi

The gnocchi (potato dumplings) - they were made with mushrooms, walnuts, and white wine - were on-point for various reasons. First of all, the dish was lighter than your average gnocchi.  Because they hard boil the potatoes and freeze it before it hits the pan, the gnocchi comes out very airy.  If you've read any of my other posts, then you know I'm big on texture.  The texture was such that the gnocchi molded to my tongue, enabling all parts of my palette to effortlessly participate in the mushrooms, walnuts, and white wine.  The texture really allowed us to fully comprehend the dish with each part of the tongue, which has different sensory objectives.  As Tarheel succinctly described, "when surrounded by good food, eating can be sensual."

Secondini (Entree) - Spigola Ai Ferri

With Obama-esque aspirations of the gym still pulsating through our veins, we got the spigola ai ferri (spigola being Italian for "sea bass" and ai ferri being Italian for "grilled").  The thing with fish is that it really has a taste of its own and shouldn't really be doused in flavors, and Barbuto understands this.  Below the fish sat a bed of grapefruit slices and endives.  I thought the addition of fruit was extremely interesting.  Who thinks to combine fruit with fish? (Come to think of it, Rosa Mexicano's salmon en manchamanteles makes you wanna slap yo' mama - it's that good).  The endive and grapefruit, infiltrated by the fish oil, made for a really good supporting cast.  Barbuto has cemented my belief that fish and fruit go together.  Except with bananas. Not sayin' that I've bad fish and bananas, but I don't see how the two go..

Dolci - Affogato... How sick is this pic?

If you've read my Italian Gem in Harlem post, then you know how I feel about affogato: no Italian meal is complete without it!  Here is our waiter (or his hand, rather), Brad, pouring a shot of coffee over pistachio gelato.  I tried to switch it up with the pistachio, but that was a bad idea. Lucky for me that Brad was kind enough to change it free of charge. #greatservice.

Service

The door girls were not perceptive to seat us once I had joined my friend. This was slightly annoying since it was 6:15pm and the restaurant was somewhat empty.  As we tried to seat ourselves, the "maitre d" rushed out of nowhere to tell us that they couldn't seat us in the corner that I had been eyeing.  It was a little embarrassing, and I say "only a little" because there was no one there when we got there, so I let it pass.  Other than that, service was great.  Water was stealthily replenished when empty, and plates were discarded when used. Our waiter Brad was very friendly and laid back.  He made sure we had good experience.  Make sure you ask for Brad if you go.

The attentive service and delectable food allowed us to focus on a great catch-up session filled with astrology, grad school, movie and relationship (I'm pretty good at dissecting those) discussions. We never made it to the gym, as we both rushed to our respective homes to catch the State of The Union Address.  Tarheel was pretty pleased with the whole experience.  And to think that she almost canceled on me!

Tarheel's bashful.. 

 

- Food Mave