Day 2/15. B & B. Batali. Buon Appetito.

Day 2
April 10.  Sunday.

The NAB show was opening the next day so we had the whole of Sunday to catch up on sleep and get to my first restaurant that I booked.

Flashback.  Approximately a month before the trip, I started browsing the net, particularly Opentable.com, for restaurants I can book in our Vegas, SF and LA trip.  Top of my list was to book at an Eric Ripert restaurant (if there was anything on the West Coast, which there was none), Molto Mario Batali (if he had any on the West Coast, which he had), Thomas Keller (other than French Laundry.  He had Ad Hoc, which I missed out and could have booked.  GRRRRR!).  

I woke up at 2pm.  I thought everyone had already left me at the hotel only to find out that the rest of my colleagues also overslept.

We decided to have lunch at a mall so we can get some US pre-paid sim cards that we can use during our stay.  My partner at Revolver Studios, AF, brought us to Fashion Mall at the Strip.  Hungry and all, we picked the first restaurant that we laid our eyes on.  El Segundo something was the name.  With the name, it suggests Mexican food and we thought it was a good balance for what awaits us that night at Batali's.

I hate it when I don't seriously think about the restaurant I'll be eating at.  El Segundo pointed that out to me again.  Hopefully, this time around, I learned my lesson.

El Segundo wasn't awful food.  But it was forgettable.  A kind of Hard Rock Cafe/ Applebee's/ Chili's kind of restaurant that serves decent food but nothing that could really make you want to come back for anything.  That's why they were in a mall, I guess.  Serving food for people who just want to get by their hunger while shopping.

Worse, their al fresco dining is a No Smoking area.  My first taste of American political correctness.  Better to turn off a smoker than tarnish the "family-friendly" atmosphere of the now clean, kid-friendly Las Vegas(remember Ace Rothstein of "Casino" and how the mob built Vegas?  Bodies left to rot in the desert?).

Anyway, enough El Segundo.  After eating, we had to rush on the sim card buying so that we can fetch Lyle, a fellow director, at the airport.

Together with Dondon and Ross, AF (our designated driver for Vegas) rushed to the airport using our GPS tracker.  I would love to drive myself but I don't have any license so I'm just the eternal backseat driver from Vegas to SF to LA.  Oh shucks!! I hate it!  Really!  I do!  FUCK!)

Relaxing at the backseat playing Bejewelled Blitz, we were going around Vegas in circles with the airport in plain sight but never getting really near it.  Our GPS is screwing up just like Kubrick's HAL-9000 going nuts in outer space.

We ended up fetching Lyle quite late.  And just like the scene in "Home Alone" where the family of Macaulay Culkin is rushing to get to their flight at the airport, we rushed our way to our booking at Batali's resto.  From the airport we rushed to check-in Lyle's bags.  We also picked up another colleague at the hotel, our partner in Postmanila, Dave (who has just arrived as well) and then rushed to Venetian for the B & B Ristorante of Batali and Bastianich.

I am not famous for being on time.  In fact, some friends I work with would always call me "The Late Erik Matti".  But for Batali, I was never going to come in late.  I didn't want my booking cancelled and I don't know how reservations in the US deal with late comers so I want to play it safe.

Picture this out:  I am 40 years old with a big tummy and all, rushing and weaving through the casino floors of Venetian.  Behind me is Dondon Monteverde and Ross Misa, both more than 40 years old (actually Ross, I think, is Sir Ross, so he might be reaching 50-ishy, but I can keep him to the 40 something in this account.).  Both of them are also rushing to get there.  I've built up Batali so much to them that, they too, didn't want to miss the booking.

Behind Don and Ross, trying to play it cool, are the younger AF and Lyle(younger but with big, if not bigger tummies, as well).  Both are trying to rush gracefully so that they don't look like some freakin' restaurant is forcing them to lose composure but they are also at a pace to make sure that when the gates at the resto close, they won't be left outside while we're inside huffing and puffing enjoying our first order of Italian red wine.

We got there.  ON TIME.  I was in anticipation looking at the bustling crowd inside.  Picture taking galore!  Picture here, picture there.  Solo, group, trio, no flash, with flash, stronger flash, smiling, pa-cool, shooting up, with and without double-chin.

Even while waiting to be seated, we already ordered a container of house wine.  I was sweating, with leather jacket and all but I had a plastered smile.  Like a kid meeting the Jollibee mascot for the first time or a woman entering the Sephora store for the first time or even seeing Asaytono play basketball live, it was a moment to remember, to relish.  Something that you want to memorize so that in your deathbed you can upload every pixel of it and say, "I've tasted Batali!"

As we sat down, I was tasked by the group to make the orders.  I immediately browsed for the signature Batali dishes at their menu (which I've already seen on the web).

We ordered for sharing given that the food at Batali's costs $$$$.

Just as a backgrounder, B & B Ristorante is unlike Batali's other restos like Babbo, Lupas or Del Posto where he was on top of its menus.  With B & B, he shares the menu with Joe Bastianich, son of the Italian food icon Lidia Bastianich.  Although Mario and Joe are partners in several restaurants, it is here in B & B that they introduced their own individual dishes.  In fact, there is a tasting menu for Batali alone and another tasting menu for Bastianich alone.

With the help of a really good server who guided us through the menu in terms of complimentary dishes that go well together and also quantity that will be enough for all of us, we more or less ordered, 3 to 4 dishes on each course from appetizer to pasta to the main course up to desert.

APPETIZERS.

A tasting of Italian cold cuts.  I don't know each of their names and which part of Italy they're made but the variety is just perfect.  It's like a tasting for cheese.  Some meaty and hard, others really delicate and fatty.  It was a perfect start.  Together with it we ordered a bottle of Bastianich wine which was bold and strong fit for all the meats on our plates.                                                                                                                                     

I've always been curious about burrata.  It's a mozzarella, but like its mother.  When you break its center, the soft cheese oozes out like soft boiled egg and it's creamy as hell.  Seeing that on the menu, plus ramps(a kind of leek), a favorite of Batali's in Iron Chef dishes, I immediately ordered it knowing that it is definitely, even if I was uninformed, a Batali signature dish.  And with the small bite I tasted from it, it was worth it.

Most of the chefs love to use the unpopular parts of the meat for their dishes.  I dream of going to Fergus Henderson's St. John, pig's head to tail restaurant (recently awarded, again, one of the 50 best restaurants of the world) that serves dishes that make use of parts of meat that are cheap and normally would be thrown aside in favor of the loins and the ribs, the "supposed" best parts I mean.  This next appetizer has two of my favorite ingredients.  The chewy tongue of a lamb and the soft, mushy 3-minute egg.  Plus a third favorite, mushrooms.  Chanterelles, in particular (first time I've tasted it).  What flavors!  We all know that tongue is more about texture than flavor but this one packs a lot of flavor.  I can't describe it but it was beautiful!

Seppi.  Squid.  Lukos. Pusit.  Again, another ingredient that's more about texture.  But Batali once again has extracted enough squidy flavor that it just left me constantly describing it as, "Hmmm..."  and the other one on the table would answer a louder, "Hmmmmm...".  Someone else answered differently though, "Aaah..." and "Puchaaaa..."  It's your classic calamari but the sauce is to die for.  It packs all the flavors of the sea in there and I don't know what it has.  I know it has a lot of butter though.  Ross' favorite.

PASTA.

The classic clams pasta.  Again, it's about simple flavors mainly capturing the taste of the clams coupled with white wine, parsley and chili flakes with a hint of garlic ( I think).  That's what I am starting to appreciate and understand with top chefs.  They are not concerned with too many flavors.  They go for simple tastes that highlight the main ingredient's flavor.  In this case, the clams.

Goat cheese ravioli.  I've tried cooking this from Batali's cookbook and I sort of got the taste.  Except that I didn't get the right texture for the pasta.  Must be the US water compared to ours.  Or the eggs.  Or maybe, he's just Batali, plain and simple.

Here's another Batali classic from his other restos.  Beef cheek ravioli.  Beefy goodness, is all I can say!   AF's favorite!

MAIN COURSE.

Not just a pork chop.  It's Kurobuta Pork Chops.  Known as the black pig from Japan. Tender, juicy and with a lot of marbling on the meat.  It's the Kobe beef of pigs.  With rhubarb.  Another thing I constantly hear from Western chefs and I'm tasting it for the first time.

Fish.  I don't know about this.  I don't have any opinion on this.  I love fish.  But this is the typical clean, subtle fish dish that's just not Batali.  I was expecting something over the top like all the others but I just didn't get it.  Of course, the fish was well cooked.  The risotto was nice but it was not memorable.  It's like looking at the file videos of pretty Brazilian models.  In the end, you only remember that they were Brazilians and no one really stood out individually.

The last and final main course.  Something I always wanted to try.  Another offal favorite of chefs.  The Sweetbreads!  It was just coated with polenta and it was so good.  Sweetbreads, as per my googling, is part of the larynx or the pancreas.  Small globules that are like a bit gummy in texture.  The texture is something I can't describe except that it's close to an overcooked ox brain.  I can eat a bucket of sweetbreads while watching a movie.  Waaaah!

After two bottles of wine and some dessert, I was a fulfilled bloke.

THE END of DAY 2...