This is really not a blog about food...really. This photo was snapped late summer 2009 when scouting NYC for awnings and signage for a semplice storefront overhaul (still not done). A friend and I returned to this spot Sunday, during a rare gift of free time away from the shop in December (clearly, the only upside of retail in recession). The result...a day of blissful (over)consumption.After a cozy brunch at Elephant & Castle on Greenwich Avenue...smoked salmon, country eggs on divine hash browns and tarragon-laced creamed spinach, an omelette loaded with fresh basil and tomato, and a pair of mimosas...we strolled down the block for, what turned out to be, an afternoon of conversation, sips and slow grazing.
Gottino is a must-linger kind of spot. An all-day kind of spot. Perhaps it is a wine bar open 'til 2am...a brighter Italian counterpoint to Mario Batali's darker Spanish Bar Jamon...but step inside and you feel you are pulling up a stool to the farmhouse counter of Chef Jody Williams. The only thing that fools you into thinking otherwise is the no-nonsense staff that bustles about behind the long bar to the hushed, sharp direction of Jody Williams herself. There were glasses to polish, olives to plate, proscuitto to shave, wine to decant and bowties to tie.
We lingered long enough to see the shift-change. We lingered long enough to progress from blood orange mimosas to Oddero Barolo. We lingered long enough to crack handfuls of walnuts and hazelnuts from the bar baskets. We lingered long enough to learn that Brendan and Mary both grew up on the water...he in Sandwich, she in Southampton. We lingered long enough to progress from Walnut Pesto Crostini to Rabbit Pot Pie. We lingered long enough to hear that Jake Gyllenhaal's twin was really from France via LA, looking quite at home on his first day behind the bar. We lingered long enough to know that we will return sooner rather than later.
