BARBUTO

I had dinner at Barbuto, Jonathan Waxman’s ode to simple Italian fare, over the weekend and was very pleased. The space, on the ground floor of Industria Studios on Washington Street (at West 12th), is industrial meets rustic farmhouse, a combination of steely workspace and earthy rusticity that works. On your chrome topped tables you’ll find navy blue and white checked cloth napkins, wooden bowls of olives and almonds, and baskets of crusty country bread, while the bar, lit with low-slung fluorescent tube lighting, is filled with candles and rural accents of a hillside farmhouse in Italy.

The restaurant has a wood-burning oven (and it can get smoky in there) and a kitchen that is so wide open that you feel like you are almost eating dinner is someone’s loft. Waxman has set up a big old farmhouse table just out in front of the kitchen, giving the place even more of a homey feel. You may feel so at home sitting at the kitchen table, that when you scrape the last bit of wood-oven roasted cauliflower from your bowl, you will forget to summon your waiter for another order, and simply turn directly to the cooks on the line and plead for more.

I loved the roasted cauliflower (perfectly cooked so it was sweet and tender, and charred to give it a slight smokiness), and felt similar amorous feelings toward other dishes on the menu, executed by chef de cuisine Lynne McNeely, formerly of Fressen and who cooked with Waxman at Washington Park. Waxman is here too, in the kitchen sometimes, but mostly here takes to the role of chef/host, roaming the dining room and saying hello to friends and welcoming old and new fans to his western retreat.

Barbuto’s menu fits the neighborhood and the style of late to serve simple, reasonably-priced rustic fare in a hip, easy setting. Waxman has always been a seasonal devotee of Greenmarket produce and his menu is heavy on quality ingredients from local farmers like the long, fat, sweet spring onions from Satur Farms, simply grilled and served with a slick of rich lemon aioli. We also had the red dandelion salad with ricotta salata and radishes ($8), a lively dish marked by sharp and well-balanced flavors that could only have been improved had the radishes been shaved, and not just plopped on top of the greens in half-globes. As my friend Jamie said, “It is delicious, but it’s a lot of work.” But we were both fighting over the last savory tentacle of squid in Waxman’s insalata di calamari ($9), a warm salad of chickpeas and tender squid that was extraordinary in texture and dressed in a lemon-garlic sauce that we mopped up with bread before parting with it. The punatarelle al ouvo ($8) was served in its classic dressing of anchovy (so light it’s really just there for background flavor), garlic, olive oil and lemon, and topped with a fried sunny side up egg. (I love eggs on my food, especially at night. There is something very simple and messy and childlike about it.) While the egg was a touch over-fried, I still loved cutting into its glossy orange center, and letting the warm yolk run all over the puntarelle, adding a rich new note to the dressing. We also ordered the polenta ai funghi selvagghi—a creamy dish of polenta decorated with a number of meaty sautéed porcini and crowned with a cool tangy dollop of mascarpone ($8). We didn’t get to the rest of the menu, but I plan of going back for more. (The chitarra with walnuts garlic and Parmesan ($14) sounds terrific to me.)

While I really enjoyed the food and the easy, casual vibe at Barbuto, I think a couple of small changes might help the place out. The first concerns the wine list, which is all-Italian and is way too expensive for the restaurant, an unfortunate fact because there are many good and reasonable Italian wines out there. We enjoyed the Aglianico del Vulture “Il Viola” for $29, but it was one of only two bottles in the $20 dollar range. The majority are in the $45 plus category. With a menu that is so reasonably priced and a place that offers casual service (we refilled our wine glasses and hailed down waiters to check on drink orders), it seems there should be more of a synergy between the prices of the menu and on the wine list. Also, the place can get very loud as the room fills up. The restaurant has no sound insulation, as it is essentially a renovated garage space, so get ready to shout to hear and be heard, but otherwise it’s an easy place to have a fun night and a terrific dinner.

Barbuto is at 775 Washington Street, at West 12th Street, 212-924-9700.

Andrea Strong