Word: batali
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...Batali cares deeply about something that many far-flung restaurant impresarios seem to discount: the food on the plate. Batali may have grown up in suburban Seattle and may extol the virtues of a 10 a.m. beer, but the shlubby act can't really disguise his seriousness about food. Not cooking techniques, mind you, but food. Batali's books and shows don't offer the most complicated recipes (though it will take you several hours to succeed with the gnocchi in his recent book Holiday Food). Rather, Batali proselytizes about using the freshest ingredients--only mozzarella that comes in whole...
Testa? That's headcheese, which Batali defines this way: "You take everything north of the shoulder on a pig--the eyebrows, a big hunk of nostril, all that good stuff--and put it in a pot." Boil and serve as an appetizer--for $10, at Batali's flagship restaurant, Babbo...
...testa is far better than it sounds--like a fatty but delicately flavored sausage, topped with a little vinegar salad for bite. But is that really what passes for fine food in New York City? No, and that's Batali's point: he is serving dishes most fancy restaurants in the U.S. wouldn't dare to put before high-paying customers...
...does this for three reasons. One, most Babbo customers are rich Manhattanites spoiled by big hunks of filet mignon and Alaskan halibut. "Testa brings a depth you don't get by using the biggest, best cut of meat," Batali says. Two, as he says in his new show, Mario Eats Italy--shot on location in the motherland--Batali believes that the true basis of a lot of Italian cooking is poverty. Those who can't afford much don't waste something as precious as pig lips. Three, Batali thinks it's funny to serve headcheese for 10 bucks...
...Batali doesn't charge a fortune for his delectable meals. Though Babbo can easily set you back $60 a person before drinks, you can dine at his other two New York City restaurants, Esca and Lupa, for half that, which is cheap in Manhattan for top-notch meals. (One midtown restaurant offers a prix-fixe dinner...