Batali-Bastianich Double Header: Lunch @ Esca, Dinner @ Lupa

The dining extravanganza continued this week with a Batali-Bastianch double header on Wednesday.

Kenny and I had lunch at Esca, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich's foray into the world of seafood with David Pasternack at the helm. I kicked off lunch with a lovely sweet rhubarb bellini while Kenny kicked back with a beer. After a short wait we were seated outside and treated to an amuse bouche of mackerel and white bean bruschetta.

For a first course I enjoyed the caprese salad with creamy buffalo mozzarella, oven dried tomatoes and basil. There is just something about buffalo mozzarella... beauty in it's simplicity that makes it an amazing part of any meal.

My main course was the polipo; grilled octopus with giant corona beans, preserved sorrento lemons and rosemary on a bed of frisee. Kenny chose the scallops with citrus and greens. I was curious to see how Pasternack's scallops would stand up to the amazing ones I had at Tocqueville the previous evening, and they actually fared well. The citrus added a nice flavor to the sear on the scallops and it was the perfect choice for a light lunch. I was equally impressed with the octopus, which can be either very good or very very bad. It had a great char on the outside without being overcooked or rubbery. The creaminess of the beans and the dressing added a nice balance to the dish.

Overall, I was pleased with my lunch at Esca and it more than made up for an abysmal meal that RRR and I had there about a year ago. I'm glad I gave it another chance!

Now that dinner was over, it was time to get ready for dinner! We had decided on a trip to Lupa prior to lunch at Esca and it didn't seem like it would be a culinary conflict, as long as I stayed away from the seafood offerings. Lupa is yet another jewel in the Batali-Bastianich crown, this time with partners Jason Denton and and Mark Ladner.

We decided to eat at the bar and after a short wait, RRR and I were perusing Lupa's fantastic menu. Having eaten at Lupa a handful of times, we were pretty well versed in the menu offerings, especially the house cured salumi and outstanding pastas.

I began our meal with another one of the delightful rhubarb bellini's I enjoyed at Esca a few hours earlier and we finally decided on a game plan. We started with an order of the coppa cotto and quickly added a creamy blended goat and sheep's milk cheese we saw being served to the couple seated next to us.

After slathering some fresh Italian bread with the cheese and sopping up some of the nutty olive oil served with our meat and cheese, we were ready for our pasta course. We decided to split the asparagus cappellacci and ramps, a creamy unique mix of fresh veggies and creamy pasta. The cappellacci were shaped like small envelopes with a delightful package of asparagus and sharp fresh ramps. Absolutely wonderful!

For our main course, we split the pork shoulder with treviso and aceto. The pork was fork tender and melted in our mouths. The aceto provided a bit of sweet richness and I'm certainly glad we decided to split this dish, I would have been jealous if RRR got to enjoy this all about herself. Did they cook this all day? Oh my!

Once again, we ate ourselves into oblivion and we unable to muster up enough of an appetite for dessert which was fine since of all that Lupa does so right, the desserts are fairly unimpressive in my book.

What an outstanding culinary day!