12.28.08
Review of Scarpetta, Wednesday October 2008
355 W.14th St. & 9th Ave., 212-691-0555
Great for: spaghetti with tomato basil, romantic rendezvous
I met my friend B at Soho House (which I’m dying to try again since Neil Ferguson moved over there – their food has been a bit shit for a while so hopefully it can only improve) and was very glad when he suggested dinner in the area. Commodities Broker had been to some NY Food & Wine Festival tomato event at Scarpetta a few days before and it reminded me of how much I wanted to experience the spaghetti. Speaking of the Festival, I went to the Daily Candy Midnight Munchies event on 10/10. Definitely not worth the $100 entry. They had basically about ten tiny, albeit mostly good, hors d’oeuvres from different chefs and the lines were insane. I ended up drinking because a) how often will I get to try that many different mixologists’ cocktails at once and b) I had to get my money’s worth somehow. Yes, Tom Colicchio playing with a band was pretty cool and he was impressive, but I should have saved the money to have an actual meal at one of the restaurants. At least the cocktails were great and the cute bartenders hit on my friend and me.
Back to B and me at Scarpetta, which took over the Gin Lane space. They kept a lot of the décor, I think, while bringing up the lighting a bit. It’s still dim enough to have a romantic tryst, but now you can actually see what you’re ordering. We were lucky to snag a deuce in the front by the bar – the place was packed in the spacious back. If we had minded the squeeze, we would quickly have been mollified by the bread, which has pepperoni and cheese embedded in it. What a great idea! I actually ate and loved it. It didn’t just come with butter, there was also some kind of eggplant spread, which I liked although I just ate the bits that didn’t have eggplant.
The spaghetti w tomato basil is, I am not exaggerating, OMFG totally worth the fuss. (Chef Conant brings out the silly Valley fangirl in me, I guess.) It was so fresh and perfect it made me like the tomatoes. They were mashed, crowned with flawlessly al dente thin square noodles and just a touch of cheese. I was a little shocked at the $26 price until I tasted the dish, since transport of the tomatoes from heaven must be quite difficult and expensive. B’s tuna “susci” with marinated vegetables and preserved truffles was good in a different way. The tuna was wrapped around the veg like spring roll skin, summery and very subtle in bite size pieces.
For a main I had the moist-roasted capretto (baby goat) with artichokes, fingerling potatoes and tiny sausages. I misunderstood the Russian waitress telling me it was their signature dish and thought it would be cod. And I’m glad, because it was very good, and I probably wouldn’t have tried it on my own. I liked the nice rich dark sauce. It got a tiny bit salty towards the end but I was happy with my first taste of goat. B found his seared scallops with cauliflower, bottarga and capers a bit raw in the middle but soft and still good overall. I enjoyed them too.
We rounded out our lovely meal with a chocolate and vanilla parfait with hazelnut milkshake and biscotti. Delicious. The waiters are very polite and although I get the sense the food can be a bit uneven, all is forgiven for the spaghetti. I need to start my own Ponzi scheme à la Madoff so I can afford it every day.
Rating: 8 / 10
Our cost: $155 (no alcohol)
Noise level: happy noisy
Chance of walking in: don’t be silly, it’s really popular.
