Il Buco Alimentari e Vineria
Three stars from Pete Wells:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/15/din...
Has anyone tried it?
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Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
53 Great Jones St, New York, NY 10012
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My wife and I had dinner last night. Some deliciousness, some meh-ness. Service was OK. We arrived 10 minutes early for our 8 pm reservation and we're told, in a sort of a pushy manner, "We'll seat you at 8"--while we were looking at several open tables and we were the only ones standing and witing. The hostess then tried to sell us a table at the bar--not that we'd never want that, but the sell job was a little ungracious.
My drink (the Viola, a tasty if odd-looking gin, creme de violette cocktail) and wines (Latium soave, Channing Daughters rose) were good.
Fried artichokes were beautiful but not very flavorful. I agree with the other poster that this dish should be avoided unless it's done superbly.
Ricotta with snap peas, mint, and almonds was OK in my opinion, but my wife loved it.
Bacala fritters were blah.
Sausage appetizer was quite tasty, in an unusually dense, almost merguez-like way.
Pastas--one with chilies and scallions and one with bottarga-were both great. The bottarga one was expecially luscious and bright.
Porchetta was terrific in my opinion. Seasonings didn't overwhelm the delicious pork, it was cooked perfectly, and the cracklings were excellent.
Salted caramel gelato was good, but didn't wow me really.
Cheeses were nice, especially the blue, though it would have been nice to have had some more info about them beside the names.
I'd go back for the pasta and to try some other things--the salume and the short ribs, which were being constantly ordered (we sat at the two seats that look into the kitchen).
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We ate there on Saturday and had a mixed experience. For one, we were seated 25 minutes late for a 9:45 reservation. Not the end of the world. But the service once we were seated ranged from odd to some of the worst we've had in a long time. Two separate waiters came by to see what kind of water we wanted and then both vanished for a very long time. I mean almost 20 minutes. Finally, one came over and said 'It looks like I'll be taking your order.' Our first course was not served until almost 10:45 which was not cool and throughout the night, the two gentlemen would come over and look surprised to see someone else had come over. Other sloppy things like red wine poured into a half-full glass of white were amateurish but certainly didn't ruin the experience. But for service that uneven, the food needs to be good.
The breads and olive oil are wonderful. They are 'wheaty' and the oil is very full bodied and grassy which I love. The salumi as well are almost worth the price of admission. Fried artichokes were not fried well. I think restaurants should avoid this dish unless they can really nail it. Cicoria was the best dish of the night. Tart and fresh and something I would order again in a second. Caio e pepe was just ok. Undersalted and the pasta was a tiny bit overdone which can really kill that dish I think. The porchetta is good. Actually very good but I have to say that the one at Buon Italia in Chelsea Market is far better. Salted caramel gelato was amazing. A great dessert that wish was available at the end of every meal.
The wine list is fun but the service is so poor that it became impossible to pair the wines (my wife and I were sharing glasses). For one, the dishes came out in a different order than they were supposed to and at one point we ate a couple courses and had the plates cleared before our waiter(s) came to check on us or offer us the next wine so we just skipped it.
I would guess that at an off-hour, one can have a very nice casual meal there but I don't they're quite able to deliver consistent service when they are busy.
JeremyEG
HomeCookLocavore.com›5 Replies -
We actually enjoyed our visit this past weekend for lunch. The salumi and bread were excellent and the short rib sandwich was very tasty and much bigger than expected. The paccheri pasta dish was delicious but not as amazing as I was expecting. We've heard bad things about their service but our server, Alana, was wonderful. She was honest about our food being accidentally delivered to the wrong table and gave us a free dessert as an apology (not necessary but a really nice gesture).
We ended up trying the panna cotta and an espresso / chocolate parfait that were both great. We had a pretty big breakfast and were stuffed after all the food. Really glad we tried it despite some of the feedback I'd seen. I think the salumi, short rib sandwich and panna cotta really stuck out in my mind as being the best eats from the meal. I can't say if it's worthy of 3 stars since I don't always keep up with NY Times reviews but I can say that the food was good and we enjoyed ourselves and would like to go back.
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Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
53 Great Jones St, New York, NY 10012 -
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As vegetarian's we found the menu incredibly limited and were not wowed by our food. Wells ladled on the praise a little high, but he was clear that it's all about the meat. He also made it seem like a little burst of Italy in NY, but in Italy we rarely find such a limited range of non-meat items on the menu.
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Il Buco Alimentari & Vineria
53 Great Jones St, New York, NY 10012 -
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I haven't been but I am a big fan of their restaurant on Bond Street so it wouldn't surprise me if it is fabulous.
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