babbo - antipasti

[dogface]

I have seen several posts describing the primi's and secondi's, but have not seen people's choices for antipasti's if you had to choose two.

Also would it seem strange to get two antipasti's and three primi's for two while just skipping the secondi. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on it.

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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011

[porker]

If I had to choose 2, I'd get 2 orders of
Pig Foot “Milanese”
mmmmm

[kathryn]

> have seen several posts describing the primi's and secondi's, but have not seen people's choices for antipasti's if you had to choose two.

For two people I've done 2 antipasti, 2 primi, and split 1 secondi between the two of us. That leaves some room for dessert. The secondi are typically huge. Don't eat the bread, it's kind of boring. Note that they don't offer olive oil or butter with bread service.

For antipasti: the lamb's tongue vinaigrette with three minute egg, crispy pig's foot, grilled octopus, or tripe (comes with bread, very messy). In that order. If you are trying to save space, the salumi is also very good but a much smaller portion. The testa is good, too, but on the smaller side.

For primi: I love the goose liver ravioli the most. Others like the beef cheek ravioli, chianti stained parpadelle, gnocchi with oxtail, or mint love letters, but I think the goose liver wins with the beef cheek second but just barely. Lamb's brains are good too. As are the seafood linguine, bucatini all'amatriciana and pumpkin "lun,e" but you can find similar pastas at his other places. The goose liver ravioli is unique to Babbo IIRC. Not recommended if you don't like browned butter or balsamic reductions, which can be rather sweet/rich. Personally, I am not a huge red sauce at Babbo (Scarpetta is a different story). Hence IMO the gnocchi and mint love letters were good but not great. YMMV.

For the secondi: the fennel-dusted sweetbreads are fantastic. The skirt steak is only OK. I've also enjoyed the rabbit, lamb chop, and pork chop (possibly the best in the city). The mains are sometimes HUGE though, like caveman size (esp the pork chop). There are often nice specials too (had some braised pork cheeks once). I've heard good things about the ribeye but have never tried.

For dessert, the sorbeti/gelati assortment is fantastic, as is the seasonal fruit crostata (if you time your visit before the first frost of the fall, they may still have theTristar strawberry). The chocolate hazelnut cake is also nice. In the fall they sometimes have a great concord grape and brioche dessert. It's Gina's non-traditional take on Italian harvest bread with grapes: "Schiacciata d'Uva."

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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011

[biondanonima]

We actually had the opposite experience the last time we went to Babbo - the pastas were very generously portioned, but the secondi were MINISCULE. DH ordered the brasato al barolo and I had the guancia ripiena - both good, but both TINY. I mean, 2-3oz. of meat tiny. For $29 each, I was not thrilled, and DH was even less so. If you are ordering a secondo to split, I would definitely ask about the portion size first.

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Babbo
110 Waverly Pl, New York, NY 10011

[dogface]

Was looking at the roasted beet tartare and lamb's tongue for the antipasti. Then for the primi maybe the black spaghetti, goose raviola and the chiante stained pappardelle or the pappardelle bolognese.

How would that sound for a meal for two?

[ttoommyy]

"Also would it seem strange to get two antipasti's and three primi's for two while just skipping the secondi. Thanks in advance for your thoughts on it."

Not at all.

As for antipasti, we've enjoyed (and I'm choosing from the menu currently on their site) Carciofi alla Romana, Grilled Octopus, Wild Mushroom Sformato, Warm Lamb’s Tongue Vinaigrette, Testa (my personal favorite), and any of the salumi choices that are available the night you go.

Buon appetito!

[sgordon]

Second the octopus and lamb's tongue. Testa's also pretty great, as are the sardines with fennel. Really hard to go wrong.

I don't think it's odd to make a meal of antipasti & pastas at all. The menu there is such that you can play around with it, rather than do the traditional antipasti-primi-second-dolci. I'd probably reverse it - do three antipastis and two pastas - but whatever works for you.