NYC: Barbuto

Barbuto
775 Washington St
New York, NY 10014

(212) 924-9700

http://www.barbutonyc.com/

Despite my love for something so simple as a perfectly tender roasted chicken with a crisped skin delicately draped in its own sticky fat and the knowledge that Barbuto is famous for making an extremely respectable roasted chicken, I found myself most willing to let go of this reservation on my weekend New York trip because it simply seemed the least interesting in comparison to the sea of unique experiences available there.  We kept our reservations anyway although my mind was distracted with memories of the intricate nature of my meal at WD~50 the night prior and filled with expectations of David Chang’s meal later that evening.  I was too busy hung up on the tenacious memory of Ssam Bar’s simple yet immensely flavorful duck bowl from a previous visit, and I was curious to try some of the things I had recreated from the Momofuku cookbook to see how they compared.  What about all the more obscure Asian dishes that I was likely to find in New York that I can’t as easily find at home?  So many things kept my mind busy, and all I could think was how even chicken even at the hand of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon had lately disappointed me.  So I took my seat in the casual, yet chic space lit by virtue of the garage-style bank of windows that allowed much light to enter and reflect gently off of the cream tiled walls and industrial metal accents.  And oddly enough once the food arrived, I found my thoughts of other foods dissolved once I began to marvel at Barbuto’s fare for reasons of its simple, yet comforting flavors in a way that I didn’t expect to be so inspiring.