#50 – BOW TIE PASTA WITH VEAL MEATBALLS at ABC KITCHEN

Once again Time Out New York released their Top 100 Dishes of the year and once again, I’m going to eat my way through every one. And no price point or subway delay will stop me. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100.

The halfway mark is always a bit of a turning point in these journeys. It means it’s officially too late to back out (that and the fact that I’ve been writing all these reviews for the world to see) and it’s a celebration of all I’ve accomplished thus far and the light at the end of the tunnel is now becoming visible.

Last year, I brought two of my good friends who had generously helped me edit my webisodes to my favorite new pizzeria, Kesté for the 50th list item. This year, I invited Jason Feirman and his girlfriend Michelle to join us at one of the hottest new restaurants in the city, ABC Kitchen. Jason is the founder of Pizza Club which has enabled me to keep up on my pizza excursions. He also pushed me into alerting Time Out to let them know about my journey. He knows who to contact when, which is obvious from the success of his two blogs, I Dream of Pizza and NYC Daily Deals.

The main reason we came here was to try the Bow Tie Pasta with Veal Meatballs. But there were so many other reasons we could have used: socializing with Jason, experiencing one of the hottest new restaurants in NY, and, of course, because we were hungry! I was excited we were able to grab a table for four on a Friday night (we had 90 minutes before they needed the table back) and we were taken all the way back to a little room that literally spills into ABC Carpet. The ambiance, while modern and fashionable, made me feel like I was inside a department store (and we more or less were).

Restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten and his executive chef Dan Kluger jumped on the locavore bandwagon and have now somehow defined the vegetable craze in New York. This is where you come when you want an elegant farm to table meal in a casual, non stuffy environment. The servers wear plaid, for chrissake!!

We all shared the much talked about roasted carrot and avocado salad. The kitchen was generous enough to split it onto four plates for us and I was impressed at the portion size. Everyone at the table gushed over this, but I took issue with the word “salad.” This was mostly warm and was closer to a plate of cooked and seasoned vegetables than your typical salad. The carrots have been glazed and roasted so they tasted more like crisp sweet potatoes, the avocado, crunchy seeds, and creamy goat cheese added texture, citrus juice added a little zest, and some spices made this an unusually picante starter. I didn’t love it like everybody else in the world seems to, but I appreciated the composition and the freshness.

We moved on to the famous crab toast, which was rich and sweet with a dollop of bright lemon aioli. Though fresh and tasty, the toast was a little too rich for me (especially since we were in a vegetable restaurant), as the butter dripped down my arm on each bite. The raw shrimp we ordered were a little too slimy, although sweet and tangy from the grated horseradish. The pretzel crusted fried calamari had a nice light crunch and a wonderful mustard dipping sauce, but the squid was a little overcooked and tough.

Since Jason and I first met over pizza, it was impossible not to try one of their whole wheat pies. The spinach, goat cheese, and herb pizza was very fresh and all the ingredients came together perfectly. I was impressed by the thin crust and the nice char on the amazingly not dry whole wheat dough. This seems to be the only pizza restaurant that doesn’t show off its oven, because I saw no sign of it behind all the bouquets of fresh produce and baked goods.

Finally, we come to the pastas. Michelle’s ricotta ravioli looked like nothing special, but inside was fresh, light ricotta cheese and an herbal lemony bite of basil. Really nice.

If there was a family recipe or the equivalent of Grandma’s Lasagna in my family, it would be the Kasha Varinshkas my father makes. It’s a staple of Eastern European Jewish cuisine – bow tie egg pasta are cooked with fried onions, beef stock and tossed with bits of buckwheat groats called kasha. We never had a holiday meal without them.

And I’ve seen the dish on a few Jewish deli menus around town, but never come across an interpretation of it at a fancy restaurant like this. So I was excited to finally try Time Out’s list item.

These were a lot different from my father’s recipe. The sauce was much darker than the one I was used to. I’m sure veal stock and red wine were involved because it has a very rich, earthy flavor. The pasta was perfectly al dente and the veal meatballs were a welcome addition – small orbs of moist, flavorful meat. A dollop of sour cream was a surprise giving the dish a nice creamy bite. But the best part for me were the fried, crispy kasha flecks. I always loved the round grainy texture in my family’s recipe, but these crunched like toffee bits in chocolate. Of course, not sweet, but just as pleasurable.

It was quite a meal, which is what I was hoping for in celebration of making it to the halfway point. I wasn’t blown away by ABC Kitchen like most journalists and restaurant critics, but I certainly enjoyed myself. I’m surprised I left so full – I expected to leave feeling light and clean like a vegetable focused restaurant. But as any good chef will tell you, vegetables are good and all that, but it’s the butter and animal fat that make things taste good. And now I look forward to 50 more delicious tasting dishes before my journey’s complete.

Would ABC Kitchen’s Bow Tie Pasta with Veal Meatballs make my Top 100? I loved trying a new, gourmet version of my family’s recipe and the fried kasha was a revelation giving this inventive dish an 8 out of 10.