Best Let's Get Down to Business

Mom and Dad were in town for a few days and Wednesday night we had dinner at Babbo. This picture is from the end of the night, but the picture serves to set the stage:


Babbo is Mario Batali's flagship restaurant in New York (don't start an argument with me in the comments saying that it's Del Posto, ok?), it's been open for 10 years and it's still tricky to get a reservation (you have to call in [or show up in person, as I did] exactly 30 days in advance of the date you want to eat) and, based on Wednesday night, I'd say the continued popularity is justified. The dining room was beautiful, the service magnificent (probably my almost favorite thing about a real good restaurant is real good service...you know, everyone being knowledgeable, polite, and attentive?), and the food? My goodness. Let's review:

Amuse-bouche:

Chickpea bruschetta.


Bread:

Bread.


Antipasti:

Babbo Salumi for Dad


"Neci con Funghi Misti" for Mom (can't remember exactly what this was, but mushrooms and cheese were involved. The result? Deliciousness.)


Grilled Octopus with "bortolli marinati" for me.


Primi (pasta course):

This one was a special ravioli that involved cheese and asparagus (don't worry, we got more than 3 raviolis, they just plate them for you)


And Beef Cheek Ravioli with Crushed Squab Liver and Black Truffles


Babbo is known for it's out of the ordinary menu items, like dishes with pig foot or lamb's brain, but beef cheek and pigeon liver was as weird as the Barnes family got that night. Absolutely delicious.


Secondi:

Mom had the Grilled Pork Chop with Cherry Peppers, Cipolline and Aceto Manodori.


Dad and I split the Grilled Ribeye for Two with Roasted potatoes, Garlic, Rosemary and Aceto Manodori. We considered getting the Osco Buco, but we didn't have 3 hours for it to braise (get it? get it?) First they brought out our beautiful, huge piece of freshly grilled meat for us to admire then they carved it and arranged it artfully and awarded it to us.


nom nom nom nom nom nom nom.


This is Mom and Dad.


This is the Babbo skylight which provided the excellent light in the evening's earlier photos.


This is a claim ticket. For my coat? No, for my steak. It was such an unrelenting meat battle that I decided to take a little break and asked them to box it up. Since Babbo is so classy they leave your leftovers with the maitre'd to pick up on your way out so that you don't have an undignified bag of food at your table with you during dessert. So cool. Also, at Babbo, if the table cloth gets a little dirty or spilled on, they cover that part of the tablecloth up with a creaseless unfolded napkin so you don't have to see how messy you might have been. Classy!


Dolci:

For Dad, Pistachio and Chocolate Semifreddo.



For Mom, Mascarpone Cheesecake.


For Me, a Honey and Pine Nut Tart.


For right before we left, assorted little cookies.


Well, if you couldn't tell, it was a great meal and a great way to reunite with my parents, one of whom hadn't been to New York for more than a year and the other of whom hadn't been to New York for more than two years! After dinner we went to the Film Forum and saw "Sweet Smell of Success" which is a very enjoyable yet surprisingly confusing film noir about the New York Broadway gossip pages in the 50's. If you didn't see it in your BYU freshman film class then I recommend catching it at your local art theater if you have the chance.

Best I Am Protecting All of You

Some nights I don't go to sleep, instead I stay up looking at my gchat contacts, worrying about the ones who haven't gone to bed yet.

Best Let's Get Caught Up, pt. 4

Tuesday

Did you know that the Astor Place Barbershop has a karaoke machine?




Wednesday

Wednesday was the day that Matt left...or, it was the day that we thought Matt was leaving, but he got kind of a late start so I told him to stay one more night because sometimes he gets into car accidents and I wanted to reduce the likelihood of that happening as much as possible.

Anyway, here's Matt and I on the roof when we thought we were saying goodbye.


Matt and Kristin are...


...jeans twins!


With Matt leaving (or, you know, thought to be leaving) I headed over to the Shake Shack to meet Mom and Dad who had just flown in from Chicago.


We now move from catching up about Matt and I to catching up about me and my folks. Tune in next time for...BABBO! and more!

Best Let's Get Caught Up, pt. 3

Monday

Mondays! Garfield hates them, but I love them when they are full of friends and adventure! Todays friends: Brigham, Matt, and Naomi from Australia. Todays adventure: The Conquest of Ellis Isle!

But before our sea trip, we paid a visit to the Wall Street Bull on Broadway. There are inappropriate and appropriate ways to pose with the Wall Street Bull. Here Naomi demonstrates an appropriate bull-pose.


And now here some young ladies (if I can even call them that considering their behavior) demonstrate very inappropriate Wall Street Bull-poses.



Inappropriate Bull-poses get the big thumbs down! (a stamp of disapproval that I don't just give out willy-nilly)


Matt has his own issues with the Wall Street Bull.


Let's see that one again, but with motion:



So then we pass through Battery Park...



And on to Castle Clinton where you buy your tickets for the boats and find out that if you get there at 1 in the afternoon it's going to be too late to see both Liberty Island and Ellis Island. Forced to choose between the giant statue and lessons, we choose lessons.


Then it's boat ride and statue-photographing time.

I took this guy's picture because I thought he was Matt, I don't know, my brain turned off for a second. And this girl is giving me the look I deserve for my mistake.

Naomi demonstrates perfect snapshooting form. This isn't a posed picture, this is how she takes pictures.



Don't laugh at my patriotism.


At Liberty Island our ship was boarded by an army of America-admirers.


Matt befriended some of them...


And I took this picture over his shoulder as he photographed his new friends.


Matt explained something on the boat.


And then there we were, at Ellis Island!





The problem with this blog is that I'm always exaggerating or being sarcastic or just making jokes BUT I want you to know that really I really did like Ellis Island a lot. I loved looking at the pictures and reading the signs and thinking about the immigrant experience (and The Godfather) and sometimes I even got kind of introspective and American. Please believe me.


Teddy Roosevelt is the true friend of Italians.



And I liked listening to immigrants telling stories on the telephone.


And this picture was definitely definitely my absolute favorite picture in the whole island. Look at these immigrants, their wine, their guns, their mustaches (and the one without a mustache who is being comforted by his more masculine amigos).




Something else I liked? The sheet music collection. Some of it was so ignorant and intolerant. Shame on you, American songwriters.




And speaking of intolerance...


Inflate this photo for an education on the tightening of US immigration restrictions. It leaves one wondering what the technical difference between a lunatic or idiot and an imbecile is.


We hung tight in the upstairs of Ellis Island until the security guards forced us out and it was only then that we discovered the room of charts and graphs on the first floor. Crud. Probably could have spent a lot of time with those charts and graphs.


What is America made of? I'm glad you asked...


Then it was out to the dock with us to board the last boat back to Manhattan.



Just cuz you've been to an island doesn't mean you should stop taking pictures of it.


Since we landed in Battery Park and Ellie lives in Battery Park City I thought "Hey, better call Ellie!" so I called Ellie and she met up with us on the bridge by her house.


We walked over to Ground Zero so that the visitors could see it and look at it and think about it and ask how tall the World Trade Center was. Ellie, why don't you take that one?


And since we were way down in the Financial District and Jeff works way down in the Financial District I thought "Hey, better call Jeff!" so I called Jeff and he met up with us in front of the Brooks Brothers.


Then we: went to the shoe store, used the bathroom in the hotel, ate spaghetti, and went to a jazz show. Pictures of those? Nope. None.

Dudes, we are getting so close to being all caught up. And yes, I had my Babbo last night and it was a victory for happiness.