Babbo

Profile

So much of what we take for granted when we go out to eat Italian — or go out to eat, period — began with Babbo: Fine dining with a rock-and-roll soundtrack. Allegiance to both the most classic Italian recipes and the most local, seasonal ingredients. The bearlike embrace of offal — those lamb’s tongues, that testa, those sweetbreads and calf’s brains! And let’s not forget wine by the quartino; pasta tastings; and all that evocative, goofily charming menu language like Mint Love Letters and Spicy Two Minute Calamari Sicilian Lifeguard Style (is that really how Sicilian lifeguards do lunch?). When the joint opened in 1998, there wasn’t another Italian restaurant like it. And to Mario Batali and his partner Joe Bastianich’s credit, it feels just as fun and fresh today. — Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Pasta Tasting Menu

Seven courses, $95

Traditional Tasting Menu
Seven courses, $99

Note
The bar opens half an hour prior to the dining room, every night.

Recommended Dishes

Goat cheese tortelloni, $21; mint "Love Letters," $21; beef cheek ravioli, $25

Related Stories

New York Magazine Reviews

• Hal Rubenstein's Full Review (8/17/98)

Best of New York Awards

• Dream Meals (2005)
• Best House Drink (2002)
• Best Head Cheese (2001)

Featured In

• A Gno-Mistakes Pasta Primer (10/2/06)
• 101 Best New York Restaurants for 2006 (1/9/06)

Recipes at Babbo

• Lasagne Bolognese (2001)