During my trip to New York a few weeks ago, I had the chance to spend the day with one of my most awesome friends, Lanny. During this day, I decided Lanny might be one of my favorite people to eat with. Why? He's always hungry and excited to eat something delicious! I don't mean to disparage any of my other friends, but I'm sorry, but it's no fun to go to a nice restaurant and eat a salad! Lanny wanted to wait until we were starving to eat, so we checked out the Stand Bookstore and I found a really nice copy of Patricia Wells's Food Lovers Guide to Paris for $1! Who knows when I'll be in Paris next but I can't wait to use it.
Anyways, by the time we got to Otto, it was around 4pm and we were starving. First off, I'd like to note that I love restaurants that stay open (with a full menu) between lunch and dinner. It may not be profitable, but people gotta eat! The Otto menu is great because its diverse and has a variety of types of food. Like Westville, they had a long list of small plates that were very vegetable heavy and surprisingly affordable. I love checking out restaurants of chefs whose recipes I use and I had a great time a couple years ago at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain, but man, that place burned a hole in my wallet! Otto was pretty affordable and I really appreciated that (I've even, for the first time in 1tsplove history, included prices!).
Lanny and I decided on three small plates: Summer Corn Salad ($4), Roasted Beets ($4), and the Mussels, Peperonata, Mint ($7). All three were delicious. All were served cold, which was surprising for the mussels but refreshing on a hot August day. Lanny, who I think had never had beets before, did not enjoy the roasted beets, but I loved them (perfect doneness!). Both of us agreed that the corn salad was good, but nothing to write home about.
As our entree, we split the Pane Frattau Pizza which was topped with Pecorino cheese (very lightly, I might add) and an egg. Lanny was very intrigued by the egg and I knew that you just can never go wrong dipping anything in egg yolk, so I was definitely on board. The pizza did not disappoint. Lanny thought there should have been two eggs for the size of the pizza, but I think then it would have just looked weird (or at least not as good). The pecorino was light, because I know some people (*cough*Idris*cough*) really don't appreciate excessive (or any) cheese on pizza.
For dessert, we got the gelato and the flavors we chose were olive oil, strawberry, and hazelnut. The olive oil was my favorite, even though the olive oil flavor was very subtle.
1 Fifth Ave, NYC (+ 8th St)
Subway: 8th Street - NYU
212 995 9559
3 comments:
I must taste this olive oil gelato.
wow. that leaves my salivatory nuclei super stimulated. i want to go to new york to eat with you too!
Oh! It's not that expensive? That's nice to hear. I've never seen a pane frattau before, but I've seen his recipe. Looks delicious!
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