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“SD26 by Bao Ong”
Occasion: | Cuisine: | Area: | Cost: | Rating: |
Night Out | Italian | Flatiron | Break the Bank | Great |
Before I was brave enough to figure out the high-tech wine dispenser, a hostess whisked a friend and me to some cushy red leather seats with menus and the electronic wine list, which basically could be mistaken for an oversized iPhone you could text away at all night long. Instead of a bulky binder listing some of the thousand or so wines in the cellar, you can search for a glass or bottle of wine by grape, country and type. One note on the menu — which long-time head chef Odette Fada has divided into salumeria, vegetables and salads, pastas, fish, meat, cheese and dessert — is that many of the dishes can be ordered as smaller plates.
So we sipped our flutes of Prosecco while gazing at the expansive space, designed by Massimo Vignelli, with lights flickering above like stars in the night. We didn’t linger long at the colorful balls of yarns adorning the walls or the open kitchen before a plate of charcuterie arrived. The treats from the salumeria, which is tucked off the side of the main dining room, included a classic sopressata ($7.50) that was balanced between fat and salumi mixed with hints of pepper and garlic. The mortadella ($7.50) — a spicy, silky pork sausage flecked with pistachio nuts — was especially tasty, rich but not overpowering.
Next a few servers, whom speak Italian, brought the octopus carpaccio served with slivers of sundried tomatoes and herbs ($14.50) and yellow tail tuna ($17) we’re told had been cured in citrus juice and sugar for 20 minutes. While the octopus was perfectly tender it paled in comparison to the tuna’s fresh just-from-the-ocean flavor with a side of springy frisee and a brush stroke of black squid ink oil.
With the starters finished, we couldn’t wait to experience the uovo in raviolo ($22.50) for the first time. It’s a San Domenico signature carried over to SD26. The al dente square of pasta is laced with truffle butter on the outside and filled with a blazing yellow egg yolk inside. Once your fork breaks apart the pasta, the yolk bursts out and in your mouth, the combination of richness from the egg, earthy flavor of the truffle butter and texture of the soft pasta is Italian comfort food at ... [more, click below]
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