Restaurant Review: Babbo

Jeremy wanted to celebrate his birthday at Babbo this year. We went two years ago and LOVED our meal, so we decided to go back and check out the pasta tasting menu. We had impeccable service and enjoyed a nice atmosphere with dim, intimate lighting...which is great for ambiance, not so much for photos. I apologize in advance.

The pasta tasting menu consists of 5 pasta dishes and 2 desserts, and we decided to add an appetizer to have something other than pasta for our meal. We also ordered some great red wine which is served generously in a mini carafe and ends up being almost 2 glasses.

The waiter came around with a chickpea salad on toast for amuse bouche. It was nice.

Chickpea salad on toast

Our first dish, not on the tasting menu, was the grilled octopus with borlotti marinati and spicy limoncello vinaigrette. It was a thicker piece and I think slightly overcooked, but I love lemon flavor with grilled octopus, and the spicy kick was a nice change of pace.

Grilled octopus

So, now for the first course of the tasting - black tagliatelle with peas and castelmagno cheese. The black pasta actually didn't have the normal squid ink flavor that you usually get from black pasta, likely because the peas and sauce flavors were pretty powerful. The peas were so sweet and delicious, it was as if they picked them minutes before serving them. Even if you don't like peas, you will like these. The dish was probably half peas though, so it was quite a bit of peas. Ok enough about the peas. This wasn't the best dish of the night, but it was good.

Black tagliatelle with peas and castelmagno cheese

Next course was Casunzei with poppy seeds. This dish was ravioli-like pockets of roasted beets with smoked ricotta and a butter scallion sauce topped with poppy seeds. We all know I love beets, so I really enjoyed this dish. The smokey flavor from the ricotta was potent, as if they smoked it immediately before serving. This flavor became the focal point, but everything came together really nicely.

Casunzei with poppy seeds

The third course was supposed to be the Garganelli with funghi trifolati, however Jeremy is not a fan of mushrooms. Apparently they allow just one substitution so we were able to order the beef cheek ravioli with crushed squab liver and black truffles. We had this the first time we went to Babbo and have been thinking about it ever since, and it was as amazing as we remembered. The beef cheeks were so flavorful and tender, and the liver and black truffles were identifiable, but definitely not overwhelming.

Beef cheek ravioli

The fourth tasting was Agnolotti al pomodoro. We were expecting bigger agnolotti, maybe 4 for the whole dish, but these were little baby agnolottis. They were yummy and the tomato sauce was very very sweet, which was different, but not my favorite. Also, the basil and parsley were so fresh and their flavors came through in every bite.

Agnolotti al pomodoro

The final pasta course was the best - Pappardelle bolognese. I wish this came first because I was getting so full, but this was an amazing dish. The pappardelle was perfectly cooked and the bolognese was just divine. The meat was plentiful and savory and the sauce was very complementary. The was the ultimate Italian dish done just right.

Pappardelle bolognese

The first dessert course was conveniently small, refreshing, and light. The Huckleberry yogurt coppetta came in a small dish and was still pretty frozen, however it softened quickly. The bottom layer was rich yogurt and it was topped with frozen huckleberry puree and then a few fresh huckleberries.

Huckleberry yogurt coppetta

The final dessert course was two different dishes - one was an olive oil cake with gelato and the other was the pastry chef's choice of the night, a pistachio and chocolate semifreddo. 

The olive oil cake was drizzled with EVOO as it was served and looked very pretty. I had high expectations for this cake, thinking that since it's made with oil it would be super moist, but it was just the opposite. Pretty disappointed with this one. The outside was lightly browned and crisp but the inside was so dry. However, the gelato was fantastic. So creamy and authentic tasting.

Olive oil cake

The semifreddo was unreal. The pistachio cream inside was literally perfection and the chocolate shell was so rich. There was espresso in there somewhere, and it was garnished with crushed pistachios. WOW. I was force feeding myself at this point because I was so full, but god was it worth it.

Pistachio and chocolate semifreddo

So that wraps another successful meal and Babbo. While it was a totally different experience the second time around, both trips were great and I highly recommend you try it.