Babbo Preview

05/02/2008 0 Comments

Babbo
Jamie and I had been trying to get a reservation at Babbo for about six months before we finally managed to get our resy for this Sunday (full report to follow). From my first attempts at calling to set up a reservation, all I could get was a busy signal. This is ostensibly not a good sign, as it leads one to believe that Babbo’s fame is a product of some overnight success, suddenly straining its telecom infrastructure past the breaking point. In reality, Babbo has been open for over ten years, and is perhaps unique in New York circles that its “juice,” “buzz,” “cachet,” (or what have you) has been undiminished during that time.

Images of harried reservationists frantically juggling phones, with disheveled hair and panicked expressions loomed as repeated calls brought the same busy signal. While I could have simply purchased a reservation at TableXchange.com, something many diners resort to, I decided to restrategize with the same sense of focus that one would bring to a call-in radio contest, and decided to simply press the “redial” button on my iPhone repeatedly until I finally got through. Had I just kept up with the dedicated Babbo threads on the Chowhound boards here and here, I would have learned this strategy earlier. After a mere ten minutes of persistent redialling, the phone finally rang. Finally, a professional, relaxed and articulate woman in her thirties picked up the phone.
“Babbo reservations, how may I help you?”
After going through a few options that involved ten o’clock dinner times, I finally threw myself on her mercy, and asked for anything reasonable at any time during the ensuing month. Finally locking down our reservation, we began to inform ourselves by reading other critics and diner’s experiences with the restaurant.
First up was Frank Bruni’s 2004 review, at the Times, a full six years after the opening. Gracing it with no less than three stars, he both loved the restaurant and excoriated Mario’s hard-rock iPod-driven playlist.
Other, more recent reviews have been fairly strong, including this review from Principia Gastronomica which features a great rundown of the meal and some nice photos. Interestingly, TripAdvisor’s page of reviews for Babbo has an amazing dichotomy of five-star reviews followed immediately by one-star reviews. Clearly, out-of-towners who are familiar with Olive Garden will not be happy with the subtle flavors and special care that Batali lavishes on his own favorite restaurant.
And Mario hasn’t been resting on his laurels, either; he’s just been nominated for the the James Beard Outstanding Restaurateur Award, and his pastry chef, Gina DePalma, has also been nominated for the Outstanding Pastry Chef Award.
We also took time to thumb through both Mario’s “The Babbo Cookbook“, and Pastry Chef Gina DePalma’s “Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen“. Also of relevant interest was the book “Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany (Vintage)” written by The New Yorker magazine’s former fiction editor Bill Buford, who worked extensively in Babbo’s kitchen.
Anyone out there eaten at Babbo? Good experience? Could have been better? We’re looking forward to it a great deal!