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“Centro Vinoteca”

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

, gets lavished with a thick and meaty, sweet and spicy sausage ragu ($14). It’s a mother of a meat sauce, rich, hearty and nurturing, like it’s been cooked for generations. But the surprise pasta of the night was the raviolo al’uovo ($12), which Ruth ordered, breaking away from the pack. The dish consists of one solo raviolo filled up with ricotta cheese and a secreted egg yolk that’s like a wave of golden sunshine inside of a fluffy cloud. It’s rich, baby, so one is enough, especially with the garnish of crispy guanciale.

I went for the crispy skate ($22), and was pleased to discover that this was a star fish. A sweet meaty wing is dusted in flour and pan fried, and served in aquapazza (crazy water) swimming with shrimp, calamari bay scallops and fregola (Sardinian cous cous) and shaved raw fennel. The broth was crazy alright, bright, lemony and light and infused with all that raw fennel. What a rare presentation. Originality never gets old. Alison’s friend Matt ordered the Heritage pork chop, served over Swiss chard with crispy bacon skin and baby turnips ($28). The chop was big and beautiful, grilled to a charred skin, and brined so it was pink and juicy, and invited many people to ask for (and receive) a taste.

After some time to digest and a bit more hilarious conversation that included flashbacks to when Alison and I had that bowl-top Dorothy Hamill haircut and both were mistaken for little boys, we moved onto dessert (all $8) and a rather sad off-key rendition of Happy Birthday. As Alison made a wish, we drove our forks into a hazelnut cake layered with nutella mousse, which was demolished in record time, and slurped down a “grown up” ice cream soda of bubbly Prosecco poured over cool, tart scoops of green apple sorbet and crystallized ginger. While these were both terrific, my favorite dessert was a plate of unusually buttery tarallucci (they are typically hard cookies for dipping into wine) served with a bowl of warm salted caramel for dipping. I’d encourage you to dine at Centro Vinoteca for these cookies and that warm salty caramel alone. If you bring this salted caramel home with you, I’d say you won’t be going anywhere for a while. It is one of the most simple and most compelling desserts I have had in recent memory.

After dessert was cleared, we sat around and chewed the fat for another hour, talking about god knows what, but cracking up. Reali ... [more, click below]

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Posted: October 15, 2007

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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