Otto: the perfect start to a bachelorette party!

On Saturday night our small mob of nineteen women descended upon Otto to kick off Jax's bachelorette. Otto had a pretty good deal for a large group. For $75 per person (without tax and tip) you get bread, charcuterie, cheese, appetizers, salad, pizzas, dessert and all the wine you can drink.

The caveat? You have two hours to imbibe and eat to your heart's content - that's it. Not bad though when there is a long night of drinking ahead but there was a sense of urgency to drink as much wine as possible and eat quickly.

The bread came with three dipping sauces: a truffled honey, roasted pears with a nice kick of pepperoncino, and a sweet cherry sauce. I particularly enjoyed the pears; the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

This was followed by a lazy Susan presentation of some small vegetable plates. Some of the highlights included roasted beets and saba, califlower "alla Siciliana" roasted in a light balsamic sauce, eggplant caponatina enriched by capers and pignolis, large mixed olives, simple but hearty green lentils "Toscana" and a I'm-not-quite-sure-how-they-did-it brussel sprouts and vin cotto.

For me, the meal could have ended here but it was only just the beginning. Next came two salads and bruschetta with roasted leeks. The leeks were pretty good, but honestly, not the best choice to eat on a night of flirting with guys and carousing with your girlfriends.

The one salad was a puzzlingly boring Romaine with thinly sliced onions sans dressing but the peppery baby arugula made up for what the other salad lacked.

As I was busy enjoying this feast with a lovely light 2005 Nebbiolo, out came the pizzas. We were given four: funghi and taleggio, margherita, bianca and pepperoni. The funghi was a bit salty but I quite enjoyed the extra salt balanced by the earthy mushrooms. The margherita was pretty good, however, I found myself wanting the crust to be a bit more crisp to compliment the freshness of the tomato sauce.

Pepperoni was a heartier meatier option of the bunch and this was not your store bought pepperoni stick, definitely house made. The bianca proved to be the most dissappointing of the four. When you have a great dough this simple pizza can excel but in this case the dough was a bit flat. Even the olive oil and rosemary couldn't help this pizza.

And just when I thought I couldn't possibly eat any more out came dessert, an assortment of gelatos with plenty of spoons for the group.

Highlights included the olive oil (only me and Chef MJ seemed to be fans of this one), an outstanding hazelnut stracciatella, vanilla, chocolate, and creamy butter pecan. After much debate it was decided that the "strawberry" was really grapefruit and the tart fruit didn't do much to impress the group.

Some of the girls were distracted by the loud clublike soundtrack of the restaurant. I was distracted by my conflicting thoughts on Otto, a restaurant I had not been to in at least a year. It is difficult to judge a restaurant by a group meal and I am not sure if Otto has jumped the proverbial shark and become yet another rustic pizza joint. Perhaps some more research is in order...

Excuse me, mind if I ask you a question?

I am often stopped on the street during my somewhat obsessive food shopping and asked, "Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

While I am secretly hoping the question is, "Are you f is for foodie?" instead it is "Where did you get that shopping cart?".

The shopping cart in question is Zabar's folding shopping cart; perhaps one of my most prized possessions (sad but true). During my summer spent working at the Union Square Greenmarket I came across many shopping carts but one in particular caught my eye. It was the perfect size, lightweight, collapsible and the mesh netting helped it to expand when you have bulky items. After hearing the man go on and on about how this cart was a Godsend; I asked the RRR's to get it as my birthday gift that year and I've been using it religiously ever since.

Unfortunately, the cart is no longer available on line but a quick trip to Zabar's and you can experience the joy of shopping too!