It’s that time again: My daughter has left
for camp. My husband and I will miss her, of course, so we shared
a moment of silence before opening a bottle of wine and deciding
where to have dinner.
It wasn’t difficult to narrow our choices down to Baci &
Abbracci in Williamsburg. With a name that translates to "kisses
and hugs" in Italian, and a lush outdoor garden to while
away a late supper, it seemed an apt spot for two suddenly free
adults to enjoy one another.
We walked through the ristorante’s polished dining room before
settling at a table in the garden. Inside, the decor is swankier
than most Billyburg hangouts with curvy wooden chairs and shelves
of backlit wine bottles.
The restaurant’s patio is a simply decorated area with a wooden
fence and a tier of potted blue hydrangeas. There is no music
in the garden, so we could hear each other easily. A cat, perched
on the fire escape of a nearby building, voiced an occasional
plaintive meow and a few muffled car honks sounded as if the
traffic was miles – not yards – away. It’s a blessedly serene
way to dine.
The owners of this new ristorante are brothers Paolo and Carmine
Cappiello, with partner Rocco Cadolini (who owns Roc in Tribeca).
The brothers are as hip as their patrons: Paolo bald and sporting
a soul patch; Carmine in a chocolate brown T-shirt with the eatery’s
logo. Both move about the dining room and garden, welcoming newcomers,
stopping to see if customers are enjoying their meals and pouring
wine.
"The food," says Paolo, "is mostly Tuscan with
a little Sorrento [where the brothers grew up] thrown in."
The partners, who opened their eatery in April, hired chef Franco
Migliorine to create the menu and oversee the kitchen, with Sorrento
native, pizzaiolo Francesco Mastelione making magic in the wood-burning
oven.
Migliorine’s preparations are light, but each dish is boldly
flavored and simply plated to showcase fine ingredients. He has
an affinity for ragus (the long-simmered meat sauces); there
are three on the pasta section – as well as a number of gutsy
noodle dishes. The penne was cooked al dente (an ideal, just
this-side-of-chewy tenderness) and topped with a pungent, creamy-yet-weightless
anchovy sauce dotted with rich black olives. It may sound like
sodium overload, but the saline taste was oceanic, like a mouthful
of seawater, not like someone went wild with the saltshaker.
His lovely antipasti of stuffed vegetables contrasted robust
notes with a delicate, breadcrumb topping. One large mushroom
cap, a small eggplant half, a chunk of zucchini and a piece of
red pepper cooked down to a mousse-like jam, were topped with
just a spoonful or two of moist, crunchy, slightly garlicky bread
crumbs. The topping added to – not distracted from – their earthy
vegetable bases. The delicate appetizer needed nothing more than
a dab of Migliorine’s piquant, chile-brightened tomato sauce
to enliven the dish.
Tuscan cooking is known for its use of thyme, sage, tarragon
and rosemary, as well as its fine-roasted meats. In the succulent
"stracotto di maiale," a hefty roasted pork loin chop
met its match when teamed with the deeply fragrant rosemary.
There are three elements to the dish: the crusty-edged meat infused
with the herb, a bit of rosemary-redolent brown sauce and a few
creamy triangles of polenta. After taking one bite and inhaling
the fresh aroma of the sauce, I knew the chef had probably cooked
the dish a million times and still took pleasure in its unbeatable
pairing of sweet meat and piney herb.
Mastelione’s "Baci & Abbracci" pie, topped with
the perfectly harmonious trio of smoked mozzarella, pancetta
and caramelized onion, is reason enough to visit the restaurant.
The crust is thin but has enough heft to award a bit of chewiness.
The combination of the cheese, enhanced by the wood smoke, the
tender, salty ham and sweet onions, made it nearly impossible
for us not to polish off the entire, beautifully charred serving.
The caramelized orange is one of those non-desserts you order
when you’re stuffed but still want something slightly sweet to
finish the meal. Refreshing slices of the fruit are cooked in
simple sugar syrup and served topped with slivers of orange rind.
Beneath the slightly sweetened whipped cream on the "torta
della nonna" is a thick tier of pistachio pudding perched
on a crisp crust. While Migliorine’s grandmother’s pastry appeared
to have all the buoyancy of an encyclopedia, it was light, delicately
flavored, and like all dishes that preceded it, melded tastes
harmoniously.
By the end of our meal, we were a little giddy – weeks with no
kid to worry about is no small thing. And, yes, a couple of glasses
of wine only added to the evening’s pleasure. So we fell for
Baci & Abbracci’s charms. What can I say? It’s hard to be
neutral about a place that means "kisses and hugs"
and finds so many ways of giving you just that.
Baci & Abbracci (204 Grand St. between
Driggs and Bedford avenues in Williamsburg) accepts cash only.
Entrees: $14-$24. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner daily.
Brunch is available from noon to 4 pm on weekends. For reservations,
call (718) 599-6599.
