Ah, Italian food. The most simple flavors come together to make the most delicious food. Casual dining that bring people together to be family. Possibly my favorite cuisine because of that. One of my favorite places to get this fantastic feeling is OTTO.
My old boss and friend, Lori Kistner, is the GM of this great restaurant that I've been frequenting for a while now. The prices are SO affordable and they put out a great product. She recently posted that they were offering two fresh pastas and I just couldn't resist. My choice was the Goat Cheese Agnolotti with Lemon Butter and Fennel Pollen.
I lived a little bit within the first bite. The lemon in the butter gave the dish the perfect amount of freshness to lighten up what seems like it might be a heavy dish since it's a cheesy pasta with a buttery sauce. The fennel pollen gives the perfect amount of spice to the dish as well.
My suggestion for dining here:
-Get a glass of wine. You get a quartino so it's about a glass and a half.
-Start the meal off with some small plates and a pizza to share for the table.
-Have pasta as your entree. Definitely inquire about the special pastas because they're usually out of control.
-Absolutely get dessert. The make all of their own gelati and sorbetti and they're all amazing. They also have an amazing selection of after dinner drinks and Amaro.
Do all of that, and your check per person will probably be no more than $50ish. Seriously. Stupid prices for a 3 course meal with drinks in NYC at a Batali/Bastianich restaurant.
A couple of things to know: There is a waitlist for bar seats. If you wanna eat at the bar, let the bartender know. Chef only accepts FULL orders and will also not allow joiners to eat. Amazing for the staff 'cause it's annoying, but need to know if you have a friend that might join later.
All things said, I've never had a bad time at this place. I had my birthday dinner there and everything was amazing. The service is always great and the food and drinks never cease to amaze me.
So forget being skinny and enjoy the carbs. Go there. I'll probably be at some table across the dining room, drunk and eating dark chocolate gelato.
I'm a bit sad that I was not mentioned considering we have frequented OTTO together on more then a handful of occasions. I like to think of this as our little sanctuary, as well as the enoteca where we can eat like queens and not have to work the corner the following night to make our money back.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'll let it slide, and if I can recommend anything to your readers it would be to try: the Funghi & Taleggio pizza, the White Bean & Balsamic Bruschetta (only on Tuesdays I believe), and the never-ceasing-to-amaze-me Guinness gelato, that is if they're still serving it.
Ciao, bello! Ti manco <3