Scene: Ate too much; Take: 218

Ta-daaaaa. The Babbo review is in! Overall a great experience...our reservation was at 10pm...and surprisingly, I think we were seated by 10:10pm. Not bad. The place was BUMPING. I feel a little bit like a stuffed turkey still. Whoa.

We had the pasta tasting menu and wine pairings:

1) Black Tagliatelle with Parnsips and Pancetta, paired with Soave Classico "Monte Grande," Pra 2005
2) Baccala "Mezzalune" with Scalion Butter, paired with Kerner "Praepositus," Abbazia di Novacella 2005
3) Gargenelli with "Funghi Trifolati" paired with Morellino di Scansano "I Perazzi," La Mozza 2005
4) Fernando's Pyramids with Passato di Pomodoro paired with Refosco, Le Vigne de Zamo 2004
5) Pappardelle Bolognese paired with Sagrantino di Montefalco, Adanti 2001
6) Fritella di Ricotta with Apple Mostarda paired with Orvieto Classico Abboccato, Barbi 2005
7) Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta with Vin Cotto paired with Brachetto d'Acqui "Pineto," Mareco 2005
8) Chestnut Honey Spice Cake with "Crema di Marscapone" paired with Moscato di Trani "Piani di Tufara," Rivera 2004



Now this is what I got:
1) Black noodles with bacon. And parsley. Pretty freaking good.
2) COD RAVIOLI, ALERT! And parsley. I am not a fish eater, but because I was at Babbo, I was going to try the dish, until my "partner in dine"* suggested that it was too fishy even for her, and she liked fish. I opted for bread and wine in this course.
3) BEST PLATE OF THE NIGHT. Absolutely delicious. A lot of parsley, but still delicious.
4) I liked the pyramids. They were like 3-d ravioli.
--- I'm starting to fill up -----
5) I think this was delicious. I could only have about 2 bites before my head started to droop into my plate. I don't remember any parsley.
--- It is now at least 11:30 ----
6) This was great. A little cheese nugget with a sweet/spicy marmelade. Hello fried cheese, hello friend.
7) This dish was only the size of a doll tea-cup and it came with a reeeallly long-handled skinny spoon. I used to stir iced-tea with spoons like that as a child. DELICIOUS. with a raspberry topping I think. It had the best wine of the evening too. A little sparkly red one.
8) Uh, so my partner in dine got the Chestnut Honey cake (which tasted a little bit like a Latrine cake...we couldn't place it) and I must have looked like I needed a crazy cranberry pineapple upside down cake. Because that's what I got. The waitress tried to sell it as a "surprise" but I think they just ran out of the latrine cakes. I mean, it was 12:15am by this point. They had already cleaned and re-stocked the bathrooms.


Then we rolled ourselves down the stairs and went home. I am still full, almost 20 hours later. And have had at least 2 Alka Seltzers and some Prilosec.



Food food food. I love food.
Well done Mario.

* "Partner in dine" -- isn't that hilarious? It's like "Partner in crime!"

Walk this way!

One thing I HATE is slow people on the sidewalk. It is very hypocritical of me to hate like this because for 2 months this summer I was on crutches, being VERY slow. But I knew my place. I got up early, took cabs, didn't go out, only went to work and home. I didn't lollygag around the sidewalk. Then I had a sweet cane for several weeks and dazzled people with my dapperness.

Back to my pet peeve:
What I hate more than slow-walkers are people who walk slowly on the sidewalk, and then STEP IN FRONT of everyone waiting at the corner light, so that the entire pedestrian pack has to again, "leap-frog" the slow walker. Usually by 39th and 3rd I'm ready to throw the offender into traffic. Or El Rio Grande, whichever looks more threatening.
Please. When you walk slowly, don't step in front of me after I've passed you in the middle of the block, for three blocks running. Please.


It is a slow dance of leapfrog all the way up 3rd Avenue. Sometimes for more than 10 blocks.

There is a redeeming quality about 39th and 3rd. The other day in a rainstorm, I saw a gentleman of an older generation crossing 3rd Avenue in a trench coat, sans umbrella. He was follicle-y challenged, and to keep his cabeza dry, he was sporting a run-of-the-mill hotel showercap. Clear. Not a granny clear rain scarf, but a shower cap.

It is for this reason, that I love NYC.

Tomorrow, look out for BABBO REVIEW! I will hopefully not be too bloated with food and drink to type.