| |  | | |  | | Posts (92) | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | It’s hard to know when you can trust Frank Bruni. He seems to give a one-star premium just because a restaurant is Italian. And he seems to give a one-star premium wherever Mario Batali is involved. In just three years on the job, he has awarded nine stars to Mario Batali’s restaurants, a remarkabl... Read More | | | | | | It's hard to write about Esca because Esca doesn't seem real. The first time I ate there, it was for Chapter 8 of my book, the chapter where I met Ruth Reichl for lunch. I was so nervous that day, so focused on the person I was about to meet, that the restaurant didn't feel like a real restauran... Read More | | | | | | It was a slow, rainy Friday, so what better thing to do in the middle of the day than go for a fancy lunch with your coworkers? Indeed--so off we went, skipping through puddles and poking people with our umbrellas, a few blocks west of our office to Esca. I had been to Esca once before for a work l... Read More | | | | | | Dave Pasternack showing off his web research of the louvar. If Dave Pasternack has to Google a fish, you know it's something special (or non-existent). Earlier this week, the Esca chef-partner got a call about a fresh-caught louvar, and after a bit of research, agreed to 70 poun... Read More | | | | | | 2008’s Zagat Guide lists three and a half pages of Italian restaurants in the city, more than any other cuisine and testimony to Italian food’s popularity. But Esca, a pedigreed restaurant with a Batali connection stands out. There are no pizzas on the menu, no caprese salad, no ... Read More | | | | | | Esca's delectable fruits of the sea make up for rough start; drinks 'up' cost more Read More | | | | | | [Pigging by Wilfrid: September 7, 2008] It's a coincidence that the first restaurant up for review on my return from Spain is a seafood restaurant - Esca by chef David Pasternak, out of the Bastianich-Batali stable. It's fair to say that there's not a restaurant in the city (in the ... Read More | | | | | | Bloody wonderful. Those aren't quite the words my waiter used in recommending the shrimp mezzaluna ravioli, with blood orange sauce and capers. Though the kitchen is inventive and even playful (... Read More | | | | | | | | | |
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