Basta Pasta - Italian/Japanese Fusion

Basta Pasta is definitely one of my favorite NY restaurants - the restaurant is set in Chelsea and is always bright and constantly lively. There's an open kitchen in the center of the room out of which lovely smells emanate and large rounds of cheese are constantly making their way to tables.

The interior:

Shots of interior courtesy of vanillalattegirl and Dan Dickinson

The Food:

Smoked sliced duck breast with watercress and arugula ($11) - probably one of my favorite salads ever. The duck breast is incredible tender and has a really intense, smokey flavor. The bitterness of the arugula ties the entire salad together perfectly.

Fluke Carpaccio ($12) - very delicately flavored with a fine layer of "freshly grated" salt.

Spaghetti with shiitake, mozzarella & fresh tomatoes ($15) - my favorite dish! I love shiitake and it works really well with the mozzarella and perfectly ripe tomatoes.

Spaghetti with shrimp and okra ($14) - very spicy and fresh.


Basta Pasta

Basta Pasta

Directions: N, R; 4, 5, 6 at 14th St.-Union Sq.; L at Sixth Ave.

Orrechiette with sausage, yellow zucchini and sage

A really cold, blustery day like today calls for a really hearty, homely meal. I saw this recipe a while back on Avenue food and really wanted to give it a try.

The Ingredients:

A nice light, fragrant and inexpensive (~$6) bottle of olive oil from Trader Joe's.

Fresh ground pepper

Sea salt

Fresh sage for a flavor of fall

The preparation:

Harry's Homemade Sweet Italian Link Sausage with Peppers Onions Sausage after being fully cooked

Browned sausage

Pretty yellow zucchini. I'm not sure how much of a difference there is between green and yellow zucchini but these were fantastic.

Innards

Chopped and lightly salted

Some color added

Finished:

All ingredients incorporated and a splash of white wine to perk up the flavor a bit.

Plated! This was a really awesome dish and perfect for a cold day. The flavors worked really well and the dish was really hearty. Definitely crave-worthy - I'll be making this again soon!

Recipe:
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CAVATELLI WITH ZUCCHINI, SAUSAGE & SAGE

3 links Italian sausage

3 small zucchini

3 cloves minced garlic

1 pound fresh cavatelli

12 sage leaves, cut into thin ribbons

6 tablespoons butter (I used about 3 tbsp and upped the olive oil content)

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Salt & pepper

White wine

Put water on to boil for the cavatelli. Cook sausages in a covered pan with ½ inch water until cooked through, about ten minutes. Cut each sausage in half lengthwise, then slice into ½–inch-thick half moons. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise, then slice into ½-inch-thick half moons. Brown sausage in olive oil, remove from the pan. Brown the zucchini, cooking at fairly high heat so it takes on color but doesn’t get mushy. Remove zucchini from the pan. Boil the cavatelli. Meanwhile, add butter to the pan and cook until it begins to brown and smell nutty. (Take care not to burn it!) Add garlic, sage, and red pepper flakes and stir about thirty seconds. Add sausage and zucchini back to the pan, season with salt and pepper, add a splash of white wine and mix in the cooked cavatelli. Served with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

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The Little Owl

What an awesome meal... After hearing such great things about The Little Owl from the likes of Bruni, the Amateur Gourmet and restaurantgirl, I'd been dying to try it out. Reservations were always hard to come by but on Wednesday night, I took a chance and popped in at 6PM sharp to try to snag a seat. Not only were they gracious enough to seat my party of 2 immediately, we got a great seat in the corner of the cozy and bustling dining room. Our waitress was incredibly friendly and enthusiastic about the food and all her recommendations were stars.

We started with:

Cavatelli with veal cheeks, broiled tomatoes and escarole


I thought this dish was amazing - the cavatelli had a great chewy texture and the veal cheek just literally melted in my mouth. The broiled tomatoes gave the entire dish a very homey, rich taste and the ecarole gave it just the right amount of bitterness to round out the dish.

After this dish, we had the highly recommended Gravy Meatball Sliders:


These were made from a combination of beef-pork-veal, fennel and pecorino and were intensely flavorful. I liked these a lot but had to really squish the meatball down to eat it without making a total mess of the table.

And then we got down to business...

THE Pork Chop served with parmesan butter beans and wild dandelion




I love, love, love pork chops. It's one of my many weaknesses and I exploit this weakness often. This was definitely one of the best (if not the best) pork chop I've ever had and I've had plenty over my lifetime. Our waitress was kind enough to split everything into 2 portions for us and each portion was gigantic. The meat was perfectly cooked and tender and just fatty enough to make my taste buds and salivary glands go on overdrive. The parmesan butter beans were a perfect complement and tasted like creamy mashed potatoes. Perfectly seasoned and beautiful to look at too - this totally made my night.

At this point, we were stuffed to the point of bursting but we decided that we had to try at least one of the desserts.


The Dessert menu


So we chose the Baked Strawberry Custard:


This came with a little dollop of cream and lots and lots of sweet strawberries and a very dense custard. This was a lot firmer than I had expected - I was expecting something more akin to a flan or egg custard but was really different and not overly sweet as most desserts are. I don't think this was like anything I'd ever had before so I'd definitely chalk this up as a success though I'm not sure if I'd order it again.

Overall, awesome flavors, fresh ingredients, great service and a great location. Definitely highly recommended.