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“Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO”


  Occasion: Cuisine: Area: Cost: Rating:
  Night Out Italian West Village Moderate Great

ermeer. They were exquisite: three long stemmed beauties, resting on a square of brown parchment paper set on a white porcelain dish, balanced one on top of the other, with a juicy wedge of lemon leaning in on their sides. The artichokes are miraculous—their outer edges are crunchy and greaseless, and their inside leaves tender and soft, almost as though the chef braised the chokes, and then took a match or a lighter to the outer leaves just to crisp them up so you first crunch through the outer leaves—salted just so, squeezed with the right spritz of lemon—and then, happily, reach the artichoke’s warm, soft inner folds. Dating is just not necessary with artichokes like these.

A special that night was something called “foccacia,” topped with cherry tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella. We didn’t think we really wanted focaccia (the bread on the table was warm and delicious, served with salted radishes topped with bits of mashed anchovies), but when it arrived at the table next to us, Cori, Steven and I took one look at it, telepathically agreed that we needed one, and summoned our waiter to add it to our order. (Waiters need to be summoned here. The service is not great.) We were not sorry. It was a floppy, just grilled, free form pizza topped with peach-sized balls of milky mozzarella and sweet cherry tomatoes that tasted as though they had just been pulled from a sunny windowsill, then drizzled with green olive oil and herbs. Divine people. Just divine. It does require a bit of work, ‘cause the cheese balls are a bit large and unruly, but it’s fun. We pulled at the pizza, ripping it apart, slicing off hunks of the soft cheese, scooped some of the candy sweet tomatoes on top as well, and annihilated it in no time. Next up was Jody’s fava bean salad—a fava bean festival is more like it—tossed with a chiffonade of escarole and mint and shavings of pecorino that was so simple and so good, it makes you believe that there is no need for food more complicated than this.

And the great thing is, Jody’s food does not get much more complicated than this, and this may be her most revered (culinary) character trait. She is a self-taught cook, a cheery, adorable, and effervescently passionate woman who learned to cook in Rome and Emilia-Romagna, honing her skills at Harry’s Bar in Rome, and then at Felidia, Il Buco, Convivium Osteria, Tappo, and most recently Giorgione. He ... [more, click below]

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Other restaurants in West Village :
+ Jefferson-- Closed   + La Palapa Rockola   + Sumile   + Babbo   + Tasca   + AOC Bedford   + Home   + The Spotted Pig   + Barbuto   + Numero 26   + Mas   + August   + Alta   + Cru   + Blue Mill Tavern-- Closed   + Employees Only   + Lassi   + Metropol--Closed   + Turks and Frogs   + Bellavitae   + Yumcha-- CLOSED   + Gusto: SEE EARLIER REVIEW; THIS CHEF HAS LEFT GUSTO   + Perry Street   + Home   + Ditch Plains   + The Little Owl   + Cafe Condesa   + Cafe Cluny   + Gusto   + The Waverly Inn   + Morandi   + P*ONG   + Perilla   + Soto   + Market Table   + Centro Vinoteca   + Barfry   + Dell'Anima   + Bar Blanc   + Smith's   + Commerce   + Elettaria   + Bar Q   + Cabrito   + 10 Downing   + Minetta Tavern   + Braeburn   + Scuderia, by guest reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Bar Blanc Bistro by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Joseph Leonard   + Bar Henry, by Guest Reviewer Kathleen Squires   + Kin Shop   + Monument Lane   + Wong   + Bin on Bleecker, by Dara Pollak   + Ristorante Rafele   + Cole's Greenwich Village by Guest Reviewer Claire Jaffe   


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