Babbo NYC

Following my investigation into the whole Batali Pots, I've been doing a bunch of reading about the restaurant empire he has built with his business partners, including Babbo, Del Posto and a few others.

Reading this website's contents is actually pretty amazing - full of content (while being somewhat disorganized) and recipes and other cool stuff. Highly recommended.

Now, as for the REAL reason I'm interested in reading about this most hot of eating places - its STILL considered to be a difficult reservation to make and the food is meant to be second to none. Fresh ingredients used in traditional and new ways - the kinds of foods that I'd love to try and yet with none of the overly complicated messiness that sometimes can come with superstar food. I hear that its extremely difficult to get a reservation but I'm gonna try. This is indeed the place that I referred to in my last post. Have any of you eaten there? Was it difficult to get a table? Is it better to try to go mid-week?

Hook? I read a quick excerpt from The Babbo Cookbook on Amazon and I really liked what Batali had to say about his food and his restaurant, primarily that New Yorker foodies really want to eat things like tripe and cardoons that they wouldn't make for themselves at home. Line? He goes on to say that the book itself is written so that each recipe can be prepared exactly as it is served at the restaurant, complete with contorni and dolci and pre-dessert and dessert and you name it. And finally, Sinker! He includes variations for some harder to obtain ingredients and for people who want to make less complex versions of his dishes. He got me with that one. I'm going to get this cookbook for sure - I'm thinking that I'm getting a bit taken with Batali...