Barbuto, West Village - He says...

Our friends and family know that we love to eat at expensive, upscale restaurants.  We are seduced by ingredients like foie gras, truffles, and caviar (see Caviar Russe post as an example).  But restaurants like Barbuto defy all that.  Our dinner at Barbuto reminded me that it’s not always about the ingredients.  Even with the most common ingredients, exceptional dishes can be made.

We originally decided to eat at Barbuto to help our friend score some AMEX points (3x worth; check out his hustle blog for points and travel tips).  From there, it somehow grew into an 8-top affair.  It worked out for the best because it let us reserve a private back room with a special chef’s menu served family-style.

The first dish we had was burrata over sliced bread.  It didn’t look like much; kind of like cottage cheese on bread.  When I took my first bite, I was surprised by the wonderfully creamy texture and a cheesiness that was slightly more pronounced than typical mozzarella.  It was so addictive and we all wanted more.  It’s amazing what a little cream and olive oil can do to cheese.

Our second course comprised of a plate of salumi and several plates of salad.  For people who know me (and as I may have mentioned in previous posts), I only eat salad during lunch to be healthy and not really for pleasure.  But these salads were definitely meant to be enjoyed.  My favorite one was a melon salad, an explosion of flavors and textures that I wasn’t expecting from a salad.  There was sweetness from cubed melons, crunch and a mild bitterness from julienned fennel, smokiness from slices of speck, and acidity from the vinaigrette.  With everything in the salad, it didn’t feel like some random array of ingredients; the flavors blended harmoniously into a balanced dish. 

The next course had my favorite dish of the night: a bowl of spaghetti in meat sauce.  When I took my first fork full, I knew it was special but I didn’t immediately know why.  I think we all had to take a second to break it down to really understand it because of our preconceived associations of pasta in meat sauce.  The flavor started with a tartness, typical of a tomato-based sauce, but immediately turned a little savory from the ground meat.  It followed with a mild umami note from the cheese and finally ended with the taste of the perfectly al dente pasta, mellowing out the tart and savory sauce.  In the split second of a bite, it had all the flavors we expected from spaghetti in meat sauce.  It took another second to understand that it was the flow and cohesion of the flavors that made it taste so delicious.

Ever since seeing it on Top Chef Masters, she and I were definitely looking forward to Jonathan Waxman’s signature roasted chicken with salsa verde among our main courses.  The chicken had unbelievably juicy meat and crispy skin.  The salsa verde was an herbal mix that tasted of chopped rosemary, tarragon and parsley.  I learned from his cookbook that the magic ingredients are the mashed anchovies, capers, and garlic, which explains the pronounced saltiness and tanginess.  All in all, it’s a perfectly cooked chicken with some bold flavors that I really liked.  It seemed so simple; I wonder if I can cook it at home...  The only problem was that I was so full by the time the main entrees came around.

I definitely want to go back to Barbuto to eat in the main area and try the rest of the menu.  If it’s as good as what we had that night, I’m all for it.  I still love my foie and truffles, but I definitely appreciate places like Barbuto that don’t need them to be successful.

Barbuto, West Village - She says....

Our approach to trying a new restaurant is two-fold: sample as many dishes as you can and, more importantly, be sure to try that particular chef's signature items. In most instances, this translates into our ordering way too much food for two people. This is why, in very special restaurants, we opt for the chef's tasting menus. Another way to accomplish this is by eating with a large group. For our trip to Barbuto, we combined methods. Instead of our usual two-top, we came as a party of eight and treated ourselves to the chef's four course, family style tasting in a more private part of the restaurant. Considering the restaurant is Italian-inspired cuisine by chef Jonathan Waxman, the communal set up was very appropriate.

There's always at least one delicious dish in a tasting that you would never have chosen to order on your own. For me, it's usually a vegetable or soup dish that my eyes naturally gloss over on the menu. At Barbuto, it was the burrata, a fresh Italian cheese similar to mozzarella. As the amuse, it was served on a crostini and dressed simply with extra virgin olive oil and grated black pepper. In a bite, the burrata was slightly warm, chewy on the outside and creamy on the inside, while the crostini was perfectly toasted and crunchy. It was so well balanced and portioned - the perfect introduction to our meal.

The appetizer course came with four options the best of which, in my opinion, were the most seasonal dishes - the heirloom tomato salad and the melon salad. The tomatoes were topped with a balsamic vinaigrette, basil, and shaved ricotta. While the tomatoes, both yellow and green, were clearly the stars of this dish, the balsamic brought out the sweetness of each juicy tomato wedge, and the ricotta and basil were the perfect garnishes. It was a twist on the traditional caprese salad, with the quality of the ingredients elevating this simple dish to another level.

The melon salad was a more complicated dish - shaved raw fennel, celery, summer melons, and slices of speck tossed together in an herb vinaigrette. At first, the licorice flavor of the fennel was a bit harsh for me, but gradually it matched well with the sweet melons and herb dressing. The melons were delicious. Other than yellow watermelon, I couldn't tell exactly what types were included, but their sweet juices mixed with the vinaigrette to create a fresh and perfectly acidic salad. The incorporation of speck now and then added a textural contrast and the delicious rich smokiness of cured meat. The colors in both dishes were beautiful and vibrant. By the end of the appetizer course, both salad plates were clean - very impressive for a table full of meat-eaters.

The pasta came next. Although there were only two options for this course, they were enough to prove that Waxman is simply genius when it comes to pasta. The first could loosely be called spaghetti with tomato sauce, but it was the best spaghetti and tomato sauce I remember having in a long time. The flavor profile is difficult to describe - sweet and clean at first, which gave way to a more complex finish and a hint of heat. To be honest, I couldn't tell what type of meat was ground in the sauce, but it didn't matter. This all coated a perfectly al dente spaghetti. The bowl was barely enough to serve everyone in our group. The other pasta was gnocchi with sweet corn and cherry tomatoes. The gnocchi were perfect pillows of course, and the corn and tomatoes made the dish light and summery. Again these seasonal components seemed to be the highlights of the dish, while the gnocchi acted as the perfect complement in each bite.

The meat course consisted of seared flounder, skirt steak where cherry tomatoes again made an appearance, and his famous roasted JW chicken. All of the entrees were tasty, although I found the appetizer and pasta courses more interesting. The chicken was certainly memorable. It had a nice, slightly crisped skin covered in herbs, and the meat was moist and flavorful. It was simple but delicious, a theme throughout the meal. The only low point of the dinner was the dessert - an almond tart topped with raspberries. The tart was so mundane and out of sync with the rest of the meal, I was shocked. A fresh fruit salad would have made more sense.

All in all, this was a great meal. The family style service was fun, and we were all able to try several dishes for each course. The food was marked by bold, seasonal flavors that were light and refreshing. And while the presentations of the ingredients were simple, all of the plates were visually stunning with natural reds, yellows, and greens. The combined effect of effortless taste and beauty was truly impressive.

Aquavit (Bistro), Midtown - She says...

Aquavit has been on my list of restaurants to try for several years now. It's bumped down with each new restaurant opening, but thankfully former executive chef Marcus Samuelsson's appearance on the second season of Top Chef Masters kept it on our radar. We finally decided to go late one weeknight. The Bistro is the first dining area, while the Main Dining Room is in the back. We ate in the Bistro, which is simply styled in light browns and orange accents.

We started with Aquavit cocktails. I ordered the white cosmopolitan while he had the spicy mango martini, very typical drinks for us. Aquavit tastings were also available in a variety of flavors, including coriander & dill and fig & cardamom.

The house bread was served with a delicious salmon mousse spread in addition to the conventional butter. It was creamy, flavorful, and a nice way to begin the meal. I started with the herring sampler and he had the venison tartare. The herring plate came with three tastings: pickled, lemon, and honey mustard cured herring, served with a few slices of Swedish cheese and a fingerling potato. The pickled herring was my favorite of the three - very clean and the acidity balanced the saltiness of the fish perfectly. The lemon and honey mustard were a bit overwhelming, but still very tasty. The cheese, which tasted a bit like white cheddar, was a surprisingly effective palate cleanser and calmed down the sour tartness of each bite.

For my entree, I had the seared cod with potato and leek stomp and grilled asparagus. The stomp, which is akin to a mash, was delicious, creamy, and coated the cod nicely. The asparagus added a needed crispness to the plate. Overall, it was a very tasty dish, although the flavors were not particularly new. His schnitzel entree was also quite good, but not anything exciting.

Our desserts were a very nice surprise. It's been awhile since we've had desserts worth mentioning. I had the Arctic Circle, a goat cheese parfait that was nearly frozen but still creamy. It was served with a lingonberry sorbet and salted pistachios. The entire bite was refreshing and just sweet enough. The pistachios added a fun textural contrast, and the salt really brought out the sweetness of the lingonberries.

I'd like to try the more extravagant dishes of the main dining room, but I appreciated the simple presentations of this meal. The space was cozy yet elegant, and the tasty, clean flavors of each dish made this a great bistro-style dinner.

Aquavit (Bistro) Midtown - He says...

It was about 9:30 PM when we decided to go to the Aquavit bistro one late Saturday night.  I had just finished some work and wanted to unwind with a pampered dinner.  But to be honest, Aquavit was never that high on my list of places to eat.  It didn't seem that appealing to me.  I had seen pictures on its site of dishes with un-integrated components on a plate.  It didn't seem like there was any soul in the preparation.

Our appetizers seemingly fit this bill at first.  I ordered the venison tartare to start.  The meat sat plainly on the plate, surrounded by capers, beets, honey mustard, red onions, and horseradish.  To me, it just looked like scoops of ingredients lumped on a plate.  It was so simply presented that it almost seemed lazy.  She ordered the herring sampler, which came with 3 different preparations.  Despite the variation, it also looked very ordinary.  You typically want to dig in when dishes are served; the presentation didn’t create that appetizing sensation.

But as I ate the food, my tone changed.  The venison had such a clean taste with a mild gaminess.  Each component provided its own unique taste and texture that stood up to each other when I combined them.  I mixed certain ingredients, playing with different flavor profiles.  I personally liked a good amount of onions for texture with a touch of spice from horseradish and brine from the capers.  The dish wasn't just tasty but surprisingly fun!  Her meal was just as playful.  Each herring had such a different flavor, but each delicious on its own.  It was fun being able to go back and forth between our dishes.

For my entrée, I decided to go simple and ordered the schnitzel.  It seems like such an ordinary choice for me, but I sometimes like to review a restaurant based on the most classic dish on a menu.  The schnitzel was a meaty portion.  It was perfectly crisp on the outside and incredibly tender on the inside.  What really distinguished it from other breaded cutlets was its clean taste.  I’m used to having cutlets doused in some sort of sauce, whether it’s gravy from chicken fried steak, curry on katsu, or tomato sauce in a parmesan.  It was refreshing to just eat a cutlet and have it be flavorful on its own.  Looking back, it was probably the best pork cutlet I’ve ever had.

For dessert, I ordered the ‘smalansk ostkaka’, a Swedish cheesecake topped with berries and whipped cream.  The taste was mild, probably made with a more ricotta-like cheese.  The texture was just a bit weird to me.  There seemed to be nuts inside the cheesecake, which was kind of jarring.  I like my cheesecakes to have a smooth consistency, so I personally didn’t really like it.

Despite the dessert, I really enjoyed Aquavit.  Our dinner was a slap in the face for me.  She and I have become so accustomed to big flavors, dramatic presentations, and expensive ingredients.  Aquavit reminded me that good food just needed simple ingredients and clean flavors.  I’m looking forward to coming back to try the food in the main dining room.

Caviar Russe, Midtown - He says...

I felt so guilty after we ate at Caviar Russe.  We’ve gorged ourselves in the past with heaps of cheap junk food, all-you-can-eat buffets, and 20 course tasting menus.  Despite all that, I never really felt like a glutton until this dinner.  Don’t get me wrong – the food was incredibly delicious.  But the dishes we had were so opulent and over-the-top that I couldn’t help but think we had committed some sin.

We’ve had a caviar tasting before at the Russian Tea room and had a lot fun.  So I was looking forward to having caviar the traditional way with blinis, sour cream, and minced red onions.  But looking at the menu, we were intrigued by the ‘Bites’ section.  It was essentially a list of relatively simple dishes taken up a notch by some luxurious ingredient, caviar of course being a major one.  To start, we got the gnocchi with caviar, which were 3 large pieces of gnocchi, each in its own spoon, smothered in a truffle cream sauce, topped with a teaspoon of caviar.  I think the gnocchi could have been smaller to complement the delicateness of the caviar.  But did it matter?  No, because it was still gnocchi with truffle and caviar and inevitably amazing.  We also got the caviar purses.  It was a play on caviar served traditionally (above) with the caviar, sour cream, and red onions wrapped in a large blini to look like a pouch.  I took it in one bite and realized it was the equivalent of eating 4 normal-sized blinis with caviar.  Did I need to eat 4 at once?  No.  Was it still awesome?  Yes. 

Probably my most favorite-est dish of the night was the FLT: foie gras, lettuce, and tomato.  Again, I was expecting a bite.  It turned out to be about 2/3 the size of a Shake Shack burger, which still isn’t that big but definitely not one bite.  The first bite I had was that “Oh my God”, “Wow”, eyes wide open, almost burst out laughing type of good.  How had no one served us this before??  The foie gras was perfectly seared and it wasn’t some dinky piece.  The lettuce and tomato actually held up to the richness of the foie and provided some crispness and acidity.  The bun was soft but slightly toasted.  It also added a nice sweetness to the
entire dish.  They should bag that up and sell it in a food truck – I would easily pay $15 for that any day.

There were 2 things we ordered that I could have done without.  We ordered caviar and eggs, which is exactly what it sounds like – scrambled eggs topped with caviar.  It really wasn’t anything special aside from the caviar of course.  For my entree, I got the steak tartare with lobster.  It looked so good on paper to me (I love steak tartare) but the tartare was a bit warmer than I’d like and it was lacking acidity and texture.  It could have been much better given the ingredients.  Looking back, I would have rather gotten another purse or FLT or foregone it all together.  She got lobster 3 ways, which was also tasty, but I think she thought we could have done without it.  I think these unnecessary dishes really put in that guilt for us. 

Caviar Russe is a great place to splurge on expensive ingredients.  I wouldn’t say it’s very creative, but I guess you don’t really have to be that innovative with good caviar.

Caviar Russe, Midtown - She says...

I have to admit that caviar is one of those luxury food items that he taught me to enjoy. Before moving to New York, I'd never tried it as it was meant to be eaten. Now, while I certainly don't crave it the same way he does, I appreciate how special it is - both as a garnish and showcased on its own. We'd already tried the Russian Tea Room, which was a strict caviar and vodka tasting, so now he wanted to try Caviar Russe.

I didn't know much about Caviar Russe until our waiter handed us two menus: the dinner menu and the retail caviar menu. Aside from caviar tastings, the dinner menu was focused on sushi and seafood. The caviar menu was a catalog of the caviar available for purchase. It made the experience feel a bit commercial, but it explained the different types and varieties of caviar so at least it was educational.

We started with an assortment of oysters, which were fresh and briny, followed by several "bites". The bites were served as single servings, so we ordered two of each. Again, we ended up being a bit over-zealous with our ordering, but it gave us the opportunity to try everything. I think we'd both agree that the FLT - foie, lettuce, and tomato "bite" served on a brioche roll - was the best, and most indulgent, item that we tried. It was deliciously gluttonous. The slightly roasted tomato provided sweetness to the buttery richness of the foie gras, and the lettuce added a hint of needed freshness and crunch. The bite was smaller than the average slider, but I still had trouble finishing it. He had no trouble finishing my portion.

Two of the more manageable bites were the caviar blini purse and the gnocchi. The blini purse was an elegant but simple serving of caviar wrapped in a warm blini. The gnocchi were delicious pillows covered in a truffle-infused creme fraiche, topped with dollops of American sturgeon caviar. Each "bite" came with three gnocchi, so we should have shared a single order. Still, they were delicious and the presentation was beautiful.


We also ordered the caviar and scrambled eggs. It seemed like a classic dish that we had to try, and we probably would have appreciated it more had we not just finished our FLT's. The eggs were simple, tasty, and would have been great as a brunch item.

Our entrees were the low point of the night. He had the steak tartare with lobster, and I ordered the lobster trio. Everything was served at room temperature, which was odd considering my trio included a lobster bisque, lobster salad, and lobster tempura. The lobster bisque was tasty, rich, and appropriately frothy. Unfortunately, the lobster salad was under-seasoned, and the lobster tempura lacked the light crunch of a good tempura - in fact it was almost soggy and tasted greasy. I would have rather had a few more oysters or taken more time to enjoy the bites, but now we know for next time.


Our meal at Caviar Russe was prompted by a Blackboard Eats deal. I doubt we would have tried it had it not been for this offer. The bites were undeniably delicious, but I think that had more to do with the decadence of the ingredients than the preparation in the kitchen. If we return, hopefully we'll be less distracted by the other dishes and focus more on the caviar itself - or consider simply purchasing a jar to enjoy at home.

JoJo, UES - She says...

For my very belated post on JoJo, I'll keep my comments short and sweet. I had fairly high expectations for Jean-George's "bistro," and the meal didn't disappoint. We were looking for a nice brunch spot on the UES, with unique brunch items, and ended up finding a great weekend lunch option instead.

Although there were brunch dishes on JoJo's menu, including french toast, pancakes, and of course eggs benedict, we opted instead for the more interesting lunch menu items. I started with the ravioli while he had the tuna tartare. The ravioli plate was beautiful. The pillowy ravioli squares were accented by bright yellow and scarlet beets, speckled with poppy seeds, and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette. The flavors were bright and fresh, and balanced as nicely as the colors on the plate. The beets were succulent and delicious. Their sweetness paired well with the creaminess of the three cheese ravioli and concentrated balsamic. The overall dish was light yet satisfying, and sized perfectly as a first "course."


I found his tuna tartare to be more conventional and less interesting. It was well prepared, but served at room temperature, which was a bit too warm for me. The waffle chips that accompanied it were crispy, but slightly greasy and overwhelmed the delicate tartare.

Next, I had the shrimp and lemon risotto and he had the skirt steak. The two dishes were very different, but both were delicious and complemented our respective first courses well. My risotto was again fresh and light, especially for a risotto. The flavor of lemon wasn't strong or overwhelming, but instead added an acidity and sweetness that cut the richness of the risotto. The shrimp were juicy and delicate, and the fennel added a nice textural element to the overall dish. While the risotto was delicate and muted, his steak dish was bold and rich. Aside from the steak being a perfect medium rare, it was topped with a mixture of mushrooms and broccoli rabe marinated in a delicious ginger soy sauce. The portion was generously sized, which was perfect for him.


The two course lunch prix fixe at JoJo is a great meal. It even comes with a dessert. Although JoJo is known for its desserts, ours were not very impressive that day, so we'll have to come back to try some of it's signatures. Overall, I think we got a good sense of JoJo's food, and I was very pleasantly surprised. We'd been to Jean Georges and more recently, ABC Kitchen, so we knew the meal would be elegant and tasty. JoJo's food also managed to be fresh and comforting, even though it's space and decor certainly catered to an older patronage. We'll continue our quest to find the perfect UES brunch spot, but I'm so happy that we found JoJo along the way!