The other day I met my friend Scott for an early supper before the opera in NYC. He recommended a place called BOCCA DI BACCO at 828 Ninth Avenue and 54th Street (www.boccadibacconyc.com) which was luckily empty at just before 5pm on Valentine's Day. The hostess did say she needed the table at about 630pm, and we were fine with that.
BOCCA di BACCO has an amazing wine list, but you will need a flashlight to read it (your waiter should have one!) and they could improve the light levels just a bit. The menu is Italian at its best and very reasonably priced with large portions to boot. This may be THE NEW FIND of the Theater District! The tables are simple wood and the place is casual, yet intimate and warm.
Scott was not eating alot, but loved his heavy (great on a cold night) FAVA BEAN SOUP. I was hungry and chose the HERB GRILLED OCTOPUS with Celery and Red Potato Salad. The portion was indeed HUGE with large chunks of tender octopus (and one whole tentacle as well) all grilled to a crispy tasty crunch on the outside. The celery was just braised so it was not too hard and the potato salad was light and not creamy enough to invade on the taste of the octopus.
We had a superb bottle of "Super Tuscan" 2004 "Rosso del Pievano" from LA PIEVE that was $52 and a great bargain. Many of the wines here are in the $30 and range up into the hundreds; something for everyone. This was a medium to full bodied red that opened up perfectly within several minutes and went well with almost any medium bodied food from say octopus to pasta to meat to heavier fish.
Speaking of pasta I had the special of PUMPKIM RAVIOLI in SAGE BUTTER with Asparagus which was again a monstrous portion of large raviolis stuffed thick with tasty pumpkin and layered with fried sage leaves for extra flavor. It suffered only slightly from the excessive use of butter and would have been perfect with just half of the same sauce.
The coffee was yummy and I look forward to returning as there were so many wonderful dishes on the menu that called out to me! See you at BOCCA di BACCO sometime soon!
