This week's notable NYC restaurant: Otto

This one was a no brainer. The secret to winning over my pallet? An Iron Chef.

Otto is Mario Batali's most affordable restaurant in the NYC area. It has his world famous cured meats and aged cheeses but the focus here is the pizza and vino.

Taryn and I could not get reservations any earlier than 10 (which is fine because we now eat lunch around 4pm) but got there early and spent over an hour in the attached enoteca (that's Italian for wine bar...I learned that in Venice. I'm cultured.) We asked the bartender for a wine recommendation and he suggested an affordable bottle of red made from agliancio grapes which are primarily grown in Tuscany. Sounds fancy. It wasn't. It was much like a simple Pinot Noir.

The bar and restaurant were croweded. As we sat down for dinner we were basically sharing a table with three other guests. This is not abnormal for NYC but things were noticeably tight.

When our waiter strongly suggested we get a meat and cheese to start we furrowed our brows in disbelief. However, we obeyed and could have eaten that protein all night long. We had Copa (which came piled like fabric at Jo-Ann's) and a Parmesan Cheese Souffle served with arugula and a balsamic vinegar reduction. Amazing. We followed that with a pepperoni pizza that tasted much like the Spicy Pepperonni Pizza you can order from our favorite Seattle establishment Pagliacci's...and that's not a bad thing.

When it came time for dessert we received a flaming recommendation from the table beside us. He suggested (demanded, pleeded, begged) that we order the Olive Oil Gelato. We ordered it in combination with a Balsalmic Strabwerry Gelato and loved the pairing.

If you come and visit I can gaurantee we will visit this affordable Batali staple.

Note: In the future I'll make these a little shorter and take some pictures.