Mario Batali Otto Enoteca

We went on the first night in NYC to Otto Enoteca - a casual dining joint by Mario Batali.  An easy walk from the Subway station - we'd used  the A,C, E line and gotten out in miserable weather.  We used the handy Google Directions to guide us and ended up walking in a circle to get to the Restaurant.  This is a busy place that is buzzing with energy.  Lots of people, rucus atmosphere and looks like a good time.  We get seated at a table which is in a row of tables - two seaters that are right next to each other.
At this point the waiter brings us what he says are breadsticks -they are in a package (like store bought) upon opening the package (which is an italian brand) theres two thin (straw thin ness) sticks that are crispy.. hmmm I am thinking this isn't a great start. Then I look a the menu - there's three pages of wines and 1 page of food.
The food is divided up into Appetizers which are further divided into several sections some being salads, meats (cured meats), and some small plates.  The entrees are divided into pastas and pizza.  Otto Menu is quite interesting and words fool you into thinking these are simple plates - don't be fooled.
We ordered the appetizer of 'Shrimp, Ceci, Chilis'.  I thought this is kind of odd - but the dish was faboulous - extremely tasty.  The shrimp were perfectly cooked - we  found out they were poached with ginger.  A very simple but extremely flavourful dish consisting of ginger and chili flavours with offcourse fresh olive oil.  We'll definitely have to try this at home.

For the Entrees we ordered Spaghetti Alla Carbonara and Pizza Romana.  All dishes were flavourful.  The Spaghetti was strongly flavoured with Pancetta and the Pizza Romana was a pizza with a putenesca flavour. This way we got two classic italian flavours in pizza and pasta.  Both dishes hit the spot and I was willing to come to this place again the next night. 

 After having such an amazing appetizer and entrees I had to go for a desert and the menu again didn't disappoint.  The desert was pricier when compared to the entree but heck how many times are we going to be in NYC on my birthday?   For desert we had the Olive oil gelato with Lemon sorbetto, Lemon curd and Candied anise.  It also had an almond flavoured wafer, a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and tangerines - Good lord this was an amzaing party in the mouth.  The olive oil gelato was creamy and smooth and the lemon curd and lemon sorbetto were a perfect pairing to cut through the sweet creamy texture of the gelato - this made the gelato great till the last spoonful and didn't overpower you with the creamy sweetness.

 

Two thumbs up for Otto Enoteca! A definite must go in NYC - value for money and AMAZZING FOOD.