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Otto
calls itself an enoteca and pizzeria, which is the truth
but not the whole truth. There is a lot of wine, of
course, because the owners, Mario Batali and Joseph
Bastianich, have carved out a niche as passionate advocates
for Italian wines from all regions. There is pizza,
too, and lots of it, plate-size individual pies cooked
on top of the griddle that come in old-fashioned formats,
like the time-honored pizza margherita, and new interpretations,
like a pizza topped with thin slices of lardo (or cured
salt pork) and strewn with fresh rosemary.
It's
possible to skip the pizza entirely and still eat well
at Otto, however. The clever menu proposes a long list
of antipasti, house-cured charcuterie, bruschettas and
fried appetizers. To ensure vareity, Otto offers a pizza,
bruschetta and fried dish of the day. Cold appetizers,
served in ceramic ramekins, include a sweet-and-sour
eggplant caponata, with tiny calamata olives to add
just the right bitter note, and marinated anchovies
with slivers of scallion and rough croutons. Lardo should
not be feared, despite the name. An entire lardo pizza
may be pushing things, but a few strips of the rich,
smoky meat really rounds out an antipasto plate. The
frying is impeccable at Otto. A daily special of deep-fried
whitebait, tossed with fried sage, marjoram and thyme,
was oil free and ideally crunchy.
Desserts
veer off into two directions. There's a small list of
cheese with sweet accompaniments, like Gorgonzola dolce
with sour cherries in syrup and pecorino cheese with
chestnut honey, but Otto also makes its own gelati.
Some are adventurous, like an olive oil gelato sprinkled
with Malden sea salt and served with marinated blood-orange
slices. Others are quite orthodox, but all are first
rate.
As
at their other restaurants, like Esca, Mr. Batali and
Mr. Bastianich pour a selection of wines by the glass
or the quartino, equal to a third of a bottle. It's
all very loose and very Italian. It's hard to get pretentious
when you're matching wine to a pizza pie.
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