Dr. Awesome’s Offal Birthday
Dr. Awesome had quite the birthday weekend. Back in the last week of December, I was thinking about what places Dr. Awesome had wanted to eat at, but were hard to get into. One place that I know he had been dying to go to was Babbo. I called on December 28 around 10:30am. By that time, I was only able to get a reservations at 6:30 or 8:30. I decided to go for the 8:30 and was told to call 2 days before the reservation to confirm. Needless to say, Dr. Awesome was very very excited.
A month flew by (as per usual these days) and we made our way over to Greenwich Village. We were sat right away and I think in one of the better spots in the restaurant. We were near the kitchen in our own corner. They started us off with an amuse bouche of chickpeas. Please excuse the quality of the photos. We took these with a phone camera.
We also had some cocktails. I had a blood orange cosmo which was amazing and I’m not a huge mixed drink fan, while Dr. Awesome had some prosecco.
I started off with the marinated fresh sardines with caramelized fennel and lobster oil
Dr. Awesome had the pig foot “milanese” with rice beans and arugula. Because it was pounded out, the pig’s foot just melted in our mouths. I had an interesting experience with a pig’s foot in Switzerland which made me not very keen on trying it again, but this totally took what can be done with it to another level.
For our main dishes, I had the grilled venison with celeriac and cranberry mostarda. They brined the meat overnight, which I do have to say, made it a bit too salty. It was all delicious though.
Dr. Awesome had the fennel dusted sweetbreads with sweet and sour onions, duck bacon and membrillo vinaigrette. He was looking forward to having sweetbreads but with bacon lardons. Guess they changed the menu. It happens.
We also ordered a side of roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta. Always a good thing.
For dessert, we shared saffron panna cotta with grapefruit “tris”. This was more of a savory dessert. Usually I like saffron and panna cotta, but the combo together didn’t really work for me.
While paying the check, we were served some very delicious cookies as an extra treat.
I have to mention how amazing our waiter was. We asked him what kind of wine he would recommend since we had different appetizers and entrees. The red wine he suggested went well with both. It was strong on the nose, but mild on the palate. It’s nice to see that the waiters know their stuff! (I would also hope so at a place like that.)
Now, Dr. Awesome’s birthday weekend just started. The next day, we met up with a bunch of friends and started out at Raine’s Law Room which is a speak easy, and they take it very seriously. Only one party is let in at a time and you have to buzz for them to open the door. Once inside, you’re transported back to the 1920s, sitting on couches with some period-themed wallpaper. We had to pull a chord and a light lit up to get the waitress’s attention. After a couple of strong drinks, we made our way to Rabbit in the Moon, which is basically right by Babbo. Dr. Awesome had ready about it on Eater and it was getting good buzz. The place had an interesting vibe/facade. Our appetizers were amazing. I had their rabbit terrine and that could’ve been a meal in and of itself. My main dish was the chicken, which was ok. Most people got the duck, which was great.
After stuffing our bellies, we went to Pegu Club to meet up with some other people and have a few after dinner cocktails. Of course, I had to have my earl grey martini! Best drink ever.
So, another year, another grey hair for Dr. Awesome 🙂 But, at least he can’t complain about being hungry!
I YUM New York 