A few nights ago, I went out with some classmates to celebrate turning in our dietetic internship applications. We met at OTTO in the West Village. I’d never been to any of Mario Batali‘s restaurants before, but I was definitely a fan after this meal. It was great to kick back with a glass of wine and catch up. 

To start, we split a bunch of vegetable antipasti dishes. It’s hard to say which was my favorite, though the eggplant caponata and the broccoli with pecorino and the cauliflower stood out. Pardon the blurry iPhone photo.

Then pizza happened. My side of the table split a mushroom-and-taleggio pie and a white pizza that had tons of garlic and clams. For the past ten, fifteen years, I’ve been operating under the impression I don’t like clams, but it turns out that’s not true.

I’m glad we stayed for dessert. There were all different kinds of gelato concoctions—it was hard to know what to go with. We ended up splitting an olive oil gelato creation that involved blood oranges and lime curd. 

There was also a “Guiness Stout Coppetta,” which featured both dark chocolate and Guiness gelato along with a coffee bourbon sauce. Oh, and peanuts. It was definitely my favorite. 

If you’re in the area, definitely stop in. I hope I’ll be back soon!