07.08.08
Review of Basta Pasta, Thursday June 2008
37 W.17th St. & 5th/6th Aves., 212-366-0888
Great for: pasta, cocktails
My dear friend E and I try very hard to carve out time in our busy schedules to eat out together. We managed to do that once a week in June. She was impressed with this place last time she came so I was excited to try it myself. She’s a chef and very picky.
I started with an appetizer portion of farfalle with lightly smoked salmon, sugar snap peas and tomato in tarragon grain mustard cream sauce. It was a little sour but I liked it. The chopped up peapods were quite raw and crunchy. The nice and flaky salmon was a bit lemony and was not too salty. Overall, I found it tasty. E had the tonno fresco scottato (prime tuna tataki) with original wasabi tartare sauce, potato, okra and cucumber in orange saffron sauce. Apparently Basta Pasta is kind of a Japanese-Italian fusion. We thought it was interestingly spicy and good. I even liked the vegetables.
My main course of charcoal-griled Naiman Ranch pork loin (lombata di maiale) with mustard greens, paprika paste, prosciutto pangrattato and olive flakes was pretty good but sometimes dry. The overly sweet dollop of reduced balsamic vinaigrette on top didn’t add anything to the dish. It was a really big hunk of meat, and I got tired of sawing through the dry bits so I didn’t finish it. E’s appetizer size of spaghetti with Parma prosciutto in a half wheel of parmesan reggiano was better. Watching the waiter construct the dish in front of us was fun. He first filled the cheese wheel with a thin layer of pasta, then carefully arranged prosciutto and basil on top of that and tossed it all together. It was pretty much worth all the fuss.
We both tried the pear martini first, which subtly snuck in quite a lot of vodka that we couldn’t taste but could certainly feel after a few sips. We enjoyed its yummy pearness. Next I had a decent but unmemorable bellini.
I noticed they didn’t bring us bread plates or bread. I’m not sure if that was restaurant policy or forgetfulness. Our waiter seemed very busy but generally took pretty good care of us. As for the decor, I couldn’t decide if I was more disturbed or unmoved by the weird bandaid rainbow-colored paintings on the wall. They were kind of interesting but completely out of keeping with the restaurant’s ambience. Generally the experience was ok. I would happily recommend only the pasta.
Rating: 7 / 10
Our cost: $115 (2 cocktails each)
Noise level: somewhat loud
Chance of walking in: medium to low.
