Lupa
147 Thompson Street,
New York, NY

Lupa is meant to be super-chef Mario Batali’s downmarket foil to the ultra sophisticated Babbo. After having had lunch there, all I can say is that Luppa must have a serious problem with false modesty.

I can, at least, guarantee that the cheese course wouldn’t be out of place in any big deal restaurant. Particularly excellent was a deeply flavourful soft cheese that screamed “goat” in loud, guttural, delicious tones. For those uncomfortable with the luxurious taste of goat, Batali also offers a subtle locally made ricotta, drizzled with an excellent fragrant honey.

Lupa also boasts an in house charcuterie, for lack of the Italian word. I only had the salumi, so I can’t speak to the entire selection, but I rather suspect all the rest is just as good as the juicy robustly spiced and generously fatted sausage.

There was more sausage to come in my main course, for which I chose an understated gnocchi with fennel sausage. The small ricotto and semolina dumpling were both creamy and chewy, substantial enough to stand up to the spicy sauce. Swirling some of the kitchen’s excellent crunchy loaf and foccaccia around in the remaining sauce was only the icing on the cake.

Indeed, as far as I could tell, the only time Lupa fails is when it tries to bring in actual Italian ingredients, and particularly in the cheese department. A sheep and cow’s milk Italian brie look-alike was, just like every other cheese imported to this country, almost tasteless outside the rind. I suspect, however, that the parmesan or the pecorino would have been better, given the looser restrictions on aged cheeses. And I should probably castigate them about the price; it’s an expensive lunch if you want a couple of courses and wine. On the other hand, I ate quite a lot, and the food is truly excellent.

So, Lupa isn’t perfect. Very few things are. Save up your money and go.