Otto Enoteca Pizzeria

Six weeks into Our Little Experiment, Mario and I thought it would be a great idea to visit one of our Captain's restaurants and see how "close" or "off" we are to the actual flavors prepared by authorized chefs. We decided on Otto Enoteca Pizzeria, for two reasons, first and foremost, we had to make up with Mariesa for last weeks meal and secondly – for budget conscious connoisseurs – it was within our price range.

Angela and the kids picked me up and we headed over to the corner of 5th Avenue and 8th street. It was a cold and windy evening and lucky for us we found a parking garage right across the street from the restaurant. We arrived a little early and walked down to Washington Square Park. Although this has been the backdrop for many a movie, I knew there was one that would make a strong connection for them. In a great scene from I am Legend, the home of Will Smith's character – who lives in the building behind Mariesa and Mario in the photo above – is attacked by mutated humans that want to devour him and his guests. Their faces both lit up and thought that was "beast"!

We headed over to Otto and were quickly seated. We were all very excited! The restaurant was comfortable and the staff was very friendly (This has been consistent with all of our captain's establishments and I commend him for his commitment to customer service. Bravo!) We reviewed the menu and confidently made our choices, unlike in the past, when we were not as courageous or as knowledgeable about our selections. To start, we ordered a meat appetizer which included Prosciutto, Lonza, Coppa, Testa, and Salumi. To complement the meat, we also ordered a selection of Olives, which included Gaeta, Sicilian and Alfonso. We quickly finished off the appetizer, except for the Gaeta olives. If you recall the time we prepared the Red Snapper which included Gaeta olives, we mentioned that we were not crazy about them. Well, this still holds true. As our main courses arrived, Mario and I glanced at each other and thought the same thing. Would our cooking be on par with the Captains?

Mario's Main Course

Mojo ordered the Linguine Puttanesca - Whore's style spaghetti. He swears he didn't know the translation, but loved the ingredients which included anchovies, capers, olives, chilies, and roasted tomatoes. Mario has always had a mature palette, but I have to say Angela and I were a little worried when he ordered this meal. We weren't sure how he would react to the anchovies. He liked the anchovies, and said the pasta was "just the right texture".

Mariesa's Main Course

Mariesa ordered the Pepperoni Pizza. This girl knows what she likes and was in no mood for experimenting after last weeks menu. She liked the pizza but was not very impressed with the pepperoni. She thought the texture and flavor was closer to a breakfast sausage. Mario and I, taste testing all the main courses, disagreed and thought the Pepperoni was amazing. Mariesa was impressed with the tomato sauce and the overall taste and texture of the pizza.

Angela's Main Course

Angela ordered the Spaghetti Alla Carbonara - Coal Miner's Wife Spaghetti. We were first introduced to this style spaghetti by our good friends, Craig and Janice, at their beautiful East Hampton home. Angela, who was able to see Craig put together the meal was excited to see how our Captain's meal fared. The ingredients included pancetta, scallions, black pepper and egg. She loved it (but thought that Otto's version was a little too salty) and vowed  that she would learn how to prepare this recipe at home and return the favor to Craig and Janice by having them over for dinner.

Mario's Main Course

I ordered the Bucatini alla Gricia. If you recall back on February 5th we prepared the Bucatini all'Amatriciana at home and "loved it". We have been at this for six weeks now and I wanted to know if we're preparing the meals correctly. When my meal arrived I nervously, but excitedly, tried my first bite. The bucatini and the guanciale were cooked perfectly. Now, I say this with some hesitation, because it is going to reflect poorly on our version, but our guanciale was definitely undercooked. In our defense that was the first time we had prepared guanciale, but overall I think that Mario and I are right on course with our Captain.

After the main course, we all had dessert and easily handed out 5 crocs for each serving! We were very pleased with our visit to Otto, it allowed our family to enjoy another great evening together. We tip our hats and say thank you to the master, and our Captain, Mario Batali.

Ciao,
Mario & Mario
The Three Tocayos

Para mi sobrina Lilia

Wow, what a day! It seems that everyone at home and in the studio has caught the latest bug. With all the coughing and sneezing it's amazing that any work got done! Mario took a field trip today with me to the city. I love hanging out with little man. On the train ride into the city, we played Wheel of Fortune on our iPhones. It always amazes me how this person next to me, who I used to feed and clean, is now outsmarting me on one of the games I grew up watching on T.V.

We stopped by a local market after we got off the train in the West Village and ordered our bacon, egg and cheese on a roll with hot sauce, then headed into the studio. Mojo set up the spare station with Netflix and he was good to go!

At around noon we headed out to Eataly to get the ingredients for tonight's meal. We took some great videos of break dancers at Union Square and also of an African drummer players at 14th Street (we will try to upload it tomorrow). I love traveling the subways in the city, like Forrest Gump's mom said "...you never know what you're gonna get inside". I grew with anticipation as we arrived at Eatlay. What would Mario's reaction be? Did I oversell it? Would it be too much and let him down?

He put on a great face and said he loved it, but it was the middle of the day, on a holiday weekend, and I think the combination of him still feeling under the weather, the new environment and the somewhat organized chaos of Eatlay was too much for him to handle. He was ready to leave after our first go around, and to be honest with you, I can't blame him. Although Eatlay is very charming it just seems so chaotic and overwhelming at times.

As the day progressed Mario started to quickly fade, by 4:30 he was running a slight fever. Luckily for us, Angela got off on time and was able to come down and pick us up. We had purchased most of the ingredients at Eatlay and only had a handful of items left on our list. We picked those up at the local Stop 'N' Shop and headed home.

When we arrived we were greeted by two packages addressed to Mario and I. One each from my parents and Angela's parents. Christmas in February? Mario rushed to open the packages, the drag of Eataly and hanging with dad at work was quickly melting off.

Mario quickly grabbed our camera to document our bounty. We received a new Cuisinart blender and an assortment of Mario Batali utensils! Thank you guy's, great minds must think alike! My energy quickly escalated and I rushed to the task at hand. Chopping and dicing the vegetables and calamari.

This was probably the quickest meal we have prepared. The aroma of the white wine, tomato sauce and vegetables was heaven. I added the calamari and razor clams, let them cook and we were ready to serve.

I loved it, Mario and Angela liked it, and Mariesa hated it. All I could do was shake my head and question their loyalty to our Captain. Mutiny? Et tu Brutus? Action must be taken... prepare the plank! How could they not love it! This lead us to a serious discussion on how our croc rating system works. You will notice to the top right of your screen our agreed upon rating system. We all agreed that we would give each meal our croc rating and average the total. To my dismay, below you will see this evenings rating.

On a happier note, as we started our meal we got the news that a new addition to our family was born. Mario and I would like to welcome to the world our beautiful baby niece and cousin Lilia Marie Matthews! We would also like to congratulate my sister Christina and her husband Brock. We wish you and your new family all the best! We love you and wish we were there with you!

Ciao,
Your Tio (Spanish for uncle) Mario and your Primo (Spanish for cousin) Mario!

C - Food

The pressure is really on to surpass last weeks meal. We had such a great time and are looking forward to this weeks C - Food meal.

Drum roll please....

Cacciucco - Calamari and Razor clams "In Cacciucco" (page 259). The name of this dish is derived form the five c's in its title and implies the presence of five different kinds of fish. Our Captain mentions that his recipe has taken a little poetic liberty but that the flavors are true to its birthplace of Livorno. We will wrap up the evening with Sebadas - Sardinian Ravioli Cookies (page 494).

Ciao,
Mario and Mario

Our "Bh.D." in lamb

"Did he mean Ph.D.?" you might ask yourself. Well you'll just have to keep reading to find out!

Our day started with a trip to the local ski lodge so Mario and his friends could celebrate his AB honor roll. Way to go champ! As Angela and I waited for their session to expire we discussed the week's events and caught up on all the gossip. Afterwords we headed to he grocery store to pick up a few more ingredients for the Torta di Arancia ed Olio - Olive Oil and Orange Cake (page 468), the white, red and moscato d'asti wines for dinner and dessert. We arrived home and Angela and I began the prep work for the menu. Mario was still entertaining his friends and gave Angela the okay to step in and wear the orange crocs!

The recipe for the cake moved along flawlessly and before I knew it was baking in the oven. Angela and I moved on to preparing the final ingredients for the lamb. The boys went outside to do some additional tubing on the ice covered hill outside our home. Out of no where Mariesa screams for us to come downstairs as one of the boys has fallen hard and is now bleeding profusely from his nose. We rush downstairs to help, consumed with helping Joey, Angela did not see the steaming divot in front of her and the orange crocs lost their virgin sole. Unfortunately for us we did not notice until Angela and Joey had rushed up the stairs to get some ice. In all the chaos the cake stayed in the oven about 5 minuets longer than specified. I quickly removed the cake and prayed for the best. Fortunate for us, it was perfect!

As Angela cleaned up and Joey held his head back, I finished the task at hand and placed the Coscia l'Agnello alle Prugne - Leg of Lamb with Green Olives, Prunes and Roasted Shallots (page 385) into the oven. Not long after the boys had left and we were ready to serve. Whew!!!

After waking Mojo up we started to carve, serve and eat. Wow! I know you have read this before, but this dish has set the bar. When we created our croc rating system we agreed that we would only share 5 croc meals with invited guests. Well this is our first 5 croc meal. The lamb was so juicy and tender that it just melted in your mouth. The combination of shallots, prunes and olives was delectable. I must mention, as we were preparing the meal we had planned on serving a risotto, but with the distraction of bloody noses, de-virginized crocs and a house full of boys we neglected to look into the pantry to make sure we had risotto to cook – we didn't. Our stand-in sous chef had a great idea! Take the marinate from the lamb, saute it over low heat and then combine with blanched potatoes and finish them off in the oven. Genius!

As we crooned over the meal the conversation turned to Roald Dahl and his epic poem Lamb to the Slaughter. Now you may think that Angela or I would have brought up this story, but you would be mislead. Mariesa and Mario connected our meal to the classic story of a woman who murders her husband with a frozen leg of lamb. I was familiar with other classic Dahl stories like Willy Wonka and The Fantastic Mr. Fox, but not with this story. We pulled out the Mac and googled Mr. Dahl. As Angela read us the story, I quickly knew this was one of those magical nights where an intelectual connection was made between parents and their children. They both loved the story and the irony that it depicted. We were coming to the conclusion of the main course and Mario suggested that we look up to see if there were any videos on YouTube. Lo and behold, Alfred Hitchcock's movie comes up as the top search!

As Angela sliced and served our dessert, we turned out all the lights and gathered around the Mac. Mario selected full screen and we enjoyed Mr. Hitchcock's interpretation of Mr. Dahl's story. Where else could have Mario Batali, Alfred Hitchcock, and Roald Dahl (Bh. D.) all come together to create such a memorable night? Only at The Three Tocayos!

As always, we wish you were here and leave you with Alfred Hitchcock's movie.






Ciao,
Mario & Mario

uno, due, tre, quattro, cinque

To those of you that are out there reading this (pocos pero locos) we had to make some adjustments to our scheduled dinner. Both Mario and Angela had after school events this evening that kept them away. I told Mario to have a good time and told Angela that "Sancho" is more than welcome to have dinner with us, if she approves of him, then he has to be a good guy, ¿que no?

I purchased our lamb today at Dickenson's Meat Market in Chelsea Market. I ordered 5 pounds as per our Captains orders. Total came out to $57.00 (ouch!!) but can you image what it would have cost for four of us to have lamb at one of Mario's restaurants? I walked down a few doors to the grocer where I was able to purchase all the rest of the ingredients for our meal.

If you haven't been to Chelsea Market, the name can be misleading. It is not your traditional outdoor market. You have to walk into a building where there is an assortment of vendors. I remember the first time I visited — during my summer internship in 2007— one of the principals at Charley and I both walked through these huge doors into what seemed at the time a basement. The only two things I remember are a giant red lobster (The Lobster Place, where I bought the red snapper. They have since taken down the huge red lobster) and Amy's bread.

After I made arrangements for my sous chef to go to his after school function I came home and started the marinate for tomorrows dinner. I diced the red onions, chopped the lemon, rosemary and garlic.

All the ingredients looked so fresh and delicious and I can only image what is in store for our taste buds tomorrow night. I covered up the bowl, pulled a cold beer from the fridge (I had to make room) and started this quick re-cap.

FYI

We have had quite a few requests to rate our meals and Mario and I have decided to start our own rating system. Instead of stars we have opted for orange crocs.

uno croc - pass it

due croc - try it

tre croc - like it

quatto croc - love it

cinque croc - want more of it

Ciao,

Mario & Mario

Wait for it... Wait for it....

... Coscia d'Agnello alle Prugne - Leg of lamb with green olives, prunes and roasted shallots (page 385)... need i say more? We will follow up the main course with a Torta di Arancia ed Olio - Olive Oil and Orange Cake (page 468). I am really looking forward to the lamb recipe. This will be the first time we have prepared a lamb at home and it should be interesting.

Ciao,
Mario & Mario

Simple Indulgence

O Captain! My Captain! You have once again guided us to shore safely and content. With simple ingredients and mentoring you've allowed us to enjoy another delicious meal. Let us begin with the Parozzo - Chocolate Cake from Abruzzo (page 466). Angela was working late and Mario and I decided that it would be best to start with the cake and then move on to the main course. This is the first time that either of us have attempted to make a cake, much less a cake from scratch! We slipped on our orange Crocs, rolled up our sleeves, took a deep breath and jumped in.

The recipe was simple enough and we moved along swiftly. It took us about an hour to prep, bake and glaze the cake. We were proud of what we accomplished and could only hope that it tasted as good as it looked (although we could use some work on our glazing skills).

With the cake done and Angela on her way home, Mojo and I moved on to the Bucatini all'Amatriciana - Bucatini with Bacon and Tomato (page 185). Bucatini is a thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center. The name comes from Italian: buco, meaning "hole", and bucato meaning "pierced". The recipe also calls for 12 oz of Guanciale - the "bacon" in the English translation - a salt-cured and dried meat from a hog's jowl. Although our captain provided us with a recipe for guanciale, I was able to purchase it and the bucatini from an Italian market in Chelsea Market. Out of respect to the process of making guanciale below you will find Mario's recipe.

GUANCIALE

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
15 black peppercorns
4 sprigs thyme, leaves only
2 pounds hog jowls

1. Combine the sugar, salt, peppercorns, and thyme leaves in a small bowl. Put the hog jowls in a nonreactive casserole and coat with the mixture, rubbing gently. Cover and refrigerate for 5 to 7 days.

2. Remove the cheeks from the casserole and hang them, using butcher's twine, in the refrigerator for at least 3 weeks, The cheeks should be firm and dry, with a slight give. Slice and use like bacon or pancetta; refrigerated, it keeps for weeks.


After reading this recipe I quickly realized the significance of what this ingredient would bring to the dish. The kitchen exploded with aroma as soon as I opened the air sealed package, I thinly sliced it and looked forward to tasting this newly discovered meat.

We prepared the pasta as the guanciale, red onions and garlic cooked over low heat. After the guanciale had rendered most of its fat, we drained it and as per our captains orders kept 1/4 cup for this morning's eggs. We added the tomato sauce and then combined all the ingredients.

Everything was delicious and Mariesa accepted our apology for the snapper incident with umm umm umms! As ridiculous as this may sound - it truly tasted Italian. The Bucatini all'Amatriciana was so rich and full of flavor we can honestly say that we now realize what we have been missing out on all these years. How can we ever go back to using a canned spaghetti sauce? Or better yet, why would we!

Ciao!

Mario and Mario

Who asked for ice?

Not me, but that's exactly what we received today. About a half inch on top of the 20 plus inches of snow we already have on the ground. Feeling snowbound Angela and I even went outside and sled down the hill a few times! Spring... were are you? The only benefit to all this weather is that it allows us to stay home, enjoy each others company and drive each other CRAZY! But all joking aside it has been nice to work from home and spend time with the kids.

Given the fact that we tortured Mariesa last week with the snapper, Mario and I have decided to cook her a "make up" meal. With Mariesa's approval, we have decided on the Bucatini all'Amatriciana - Bucatini with Bacon and Tomato (page 185) and will also bake her a Parozzo - Chocolate Cake from Abruzzo (page 466).

To all our readers dealing with snow and ice in Chicago, New York, and believe it or not, El Paso and Del Rio, stay warm and safe!