The Lamb Lays Down in My StomachSaturday night we had dinner at Aurora Ristorante, which may be my new favorite restaurant that's not in the all-you-can-eat category. The antipasti were amazing. Creamy burrata pugliese with roasted veggies and pesto, roasted artichokes with lemon vinaigrette, and (my favorite, which I ordered) warm braised lamb tongue with roasted pear, radicchio salad and lamb jus. Babbo (and Fannie Farmer) serves something similar, actually. I'd never had lamb tongues before, but they tasted surprisingly un-lamby and were especially tender. No one at the table barfed after tasting them, even. I picked as my entree roasted pork belly with broccoli rabe and mashed potatoes. Wow. Pork belly is like the best of both worlds: crackling fat on top, juicy, porkalicious innerworkings underneath. The potatoes were just ~eh~ (admittedly, this is how I feel about most mashed potatoes) but the rabe was perfect. I'd like to go back there and try the tagliata di manzo...I saw the guy next to me at the bar eating it and it looked absolutely wunnerful. Also it is served on a cutting board, rather than a plate. Food served on giant wooden slabs=good. Posted by Dana at 09:48 AM
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Shit from an Old Notebookfucking sick! i just became a vegetarian again. seriously, just now. please inform me when the "and then they shove the monkey-head inside the pig stomach and serve it on a bed of horse entrails" is over.
Posted by: reeves at January 18, 2005 11:56 AMDon't listen to him Dana - entrails is where it's at! Pork belly is the new black. And the lamb's tongue salad is one of the best dishes at Babbo.
The local AME out here is having its annual Hog Killing Dinner next Saturday, and I can hardly wait.
Posted by: j-go at January 18, 2005 12:08 PM"fucking sick! i just became a vegetarian again"
I suppose bacon will still fall under the category "spice" though, hmm?
Posted by: N at January 18, 2005 12:40 PMbacon always has been and will yet remain a member of the spice family. the fact that it appears in small amounts in a large number of dishes (corn chowder, collard greens, shrimp-wrapped-in-bacon, for instance) confirms this. seriously, in addition to the above, i also read about that new study showing that all red meat dramatically increases cancer risk in humans, and that was all i needed to push me back over the edge into cheese sandwich land.
also, fish will remain on the menu, but no fowl. mmmm, mercury...
Posted by: reeves at January 18, 2005 12:57 PMreeves, of all the cancer-inducing aspects of your lifestyle, you're targeting your red meat consumption?
Posted by: dana at January 18, 2005 01:10 PMI'm a vegetarian too, but you made it sound so good I was almost tempted to cross the line the *other* way. I am, apparently, some sort of Bizarro reeves.
Posted by: jpoulos at January 18, 2005 01:21 PMall that other stuff is canceled out by positive thinking and a vigorous exercise regimen. or not. but whatever, all i know is that i don't want freaking ass cancer.
Posted by: reeves at January 18, 2005 01:30 PMhmm. i've always considered ass cancer to be one of the jollier sorts of cancers myself.
Posted by: patrick at January 18, 2005 08:07 PMBabbo? why go to manhattan to eat italian?
Posted by: SECRETARIAT OF THE GREAT LEADER at January 19, 2005 11:22 AMAnd all this time I thought that bacon had its own food group.
Posted by: adam at January 19, 2005 12:06 PMIm still curious about knowing where's the Chef from!
If the Ba- in Babbo is pronounced 'bah', then that word means 'dummy' (you know, like W) in Korean.
I offer this information at no cost to you. Please use it wisely.
Posted by: stavrosthewonderchicken at January 20, 2005 01:18 AM