We had to juggle our schedule a bit and not a ton of options to book for 11 people last minute for Saturday within a certain distance from our 12:45 tasting at Nickel & Nickel, but Bottega turned out to be a very good option. We had an 11:30 reservation, some of us showed up a bit early but the restaurant didn’t want to seat us until 11:30 since it still seemed like they were setting up.
Once seated, I went ahead and ordered some starters for the table, Pasta Fritta con Prosciutto, Arancini, Calamari, and Truffle Fries, so that when everyone arrived they could start eating something right away. We also ordered some cocktails – Andrea had the Margarita Rosa and I had the Espresso Amartini, which I thought was delicious rich from the espresso and not much alcohol taste and very easy to drink.
All the starters turned out to be quite good. Truffle fries were what you would expect. The calamari was good, but the highlight was the calabrian sauce that came with it. The arancini (fried risotto balls) were stuffed with mozzarella, served with red sauce and grated Parmigiano Reggiano was a tasty treat (this was also more delicately done, both technique and flavorwise, than the arancini we had at Fiorella). The surprise and highlight of the starters was the Pasta Fritta described in the menu (better description than I will do) as “puffed rosemary scented pasta dough wrapped in prosciutto with marscapone espuma, honey and dusted with Parigiano Reggiano”. It was interesting in technique with the puffed/fried pasta dough and the marscapone espuma (foam) as well as flavor…the savory prosciutto and the touch of sweetness of the honey made for an enjoyable dish.
I did also order a hamachi crudo to start because I was perhaps lured by the presentation on a block of Himalayan salt and topped with a tiny bit of caviar. It was decent (we’ve had some very meh crudos in the past) and I always that I generally prefer my raw fish presentation at a sushi restaurant, but this was fine.
For our entrees, Andrea and I both ordered the Raviolo since we’ve been so taken with the Raviolo at Cotogna. In this case, the presentation is a bit different in that the egg is inside the Raviolo instead on top of at Cotogna which makes for just a bit more dramatic presentation. That being said, cutting into the Raviolo to have the egg yolk flowing out was definitely the money shot. The Raviolo here at Bottega is made with potato pasta which did come across as just a bit heavy (which was a bit of a microcosm for the entire meal with so many fried dishes in the starters), but I don’t regret getting it at all since it was so tasty (Andrea couldn’t finish hers despite liking it also).
While the Raviolo was the most popular main dish ordered by our group, others ordered the dungeness crab pasta (Kristine), the pasta bolognese (Britten and Dave), the Spaghettini alla Sophia Loren (Charlotte). The Sophia Loren was interesting because the pasta just by itself was already tasty having been cooked in tomato water and “aromatic” oil and then add to that the early girl tomato sauce and blistered cherry tomato sauce and what’s not to like!
We we short on time so we didn’t have time (nor room in my stomach) for dessert, but the restaurant did provide Kristine some birthday tiramisu to go. Despite our being rushed this was a very enjoyable meal with well prepared, flavorful dishes, some interesting techniques and flavors, albeit just a touch on the heavy side for lunch given what we ordered.
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