I have been to Otto 4 times now: Once for a wine tasting (awesome), once when I just ordered a plain pizza (dumb), this time below (f-in awesome), and recently where I repeated the wonderment of my order from the previous time.
I am now completely enamored with Otto, Mario Batali’s NYC “Pizza Place” (and not just because it’s Batali’s). To call it a pizza place seems too plain… it can only be described as a super-duper-awesome place that happens to serve the best-damn-pizza when it comes to really unique pizzas and, oh yeah, has the most outrageous wine selection and olive oil gelato (more on that later).
Since it’s hard to explain any other way, here are the meny pages from the night we went.
First, the specials.
Then the food
Then the wine
And another page of wine…
And just in case you still haven’t found some wine…
The space itself is pretty beautiful, with nicely laid out tables in the back (pictured below) and a great standing wine bar up front.
And we happened to be sitting next to some of the biggest wine bottles I’ve ever seen.
So how about the food? We started with a selection of meats…
And cheeses
And a sampling of apps that sounded scrumptious (they were)
And then the pizzas came out. One is just a little more than a single person can eat as a solo entree. If you’re hungry, you can probably polish one off, but I always recommend getting one to split and then getting a few other additions. (We dined with about 10 people… so prepare for pizza overload)
First up was the prosciutto with arugula
Then a good ol’ fashion original
Pepporoni
Mushroom
White
Clams
(I found the fact that it included the shells very interesting.)
And then… the pizza de resistance… the truffle, guanciale, and egg.
This was so flogging good that I live in utter fear that if I return, it will not be on the specials menu, and then… I will cry. Let me put it this way… this is how truffles are meant to be. The flavor fills your mouth and has such decadence to it that it tastes like you must be eating something that can only be described as other-wordly. This pizza has turned truffle scoffers into truffle lovers. I compare all other truffles to this pizza. I sit here now, on an airplane somewhere between Denver and Los Angeles, hoping that for some reason we need to land in Las Vegas because I happen to know there is an Otto there. It is just. that. good. (FML… I’d trade my right arm for a piece of this right now)
Ok… back to reality… er… dessert.
I believe this was the banana butterscotch coppetta made with butterscotch gelato, peanut brittle, coffee burboun sauce, and caramelized banans.
Or maybe this was?
Or this? Gosh darn it! Someone at the table got that. And then two other people go… two other things.
And the rest of us got the trio of gelatos.
A fantastic way to try the flavors you love
And test a new flavor that youv’e never tried before… like olive oil.
Olive oil gelato you say? YES! Someone said I MUST get this and I’m so glad I did. I made a few more believers on this evening as well. They put flaked salt on top and it is just mm mm good.
Oh Otto… how I love the.
Now hand over the truffle pizza and nobody gets hurt.
Total Nom Points: 8.5 out of 10 (9.5 for the truffle pizza)
