3rd Year Anniversary Dinner at Basta Pasta

Basta Pasta
37 West 17th Street New York, NY 10011
212.366.0888

On January 7th, 2014 which was possibly the coldest day of the year, Will and I celebrated our third year anniversary at Basta Pasta. I was excited because I have been wanting to come to this restaurant for a long time since I've heard a lot of good things about it.

I envisioned the restaurant to be dim and elegant, but it was bright, warm, and modern. I love the nice, open kitchen because you can see all the chefs working and cooking. I also liked how when we arrived, a gentleman took our coats to hang in the back so we can eat more comfortably.

Sparkling Water

We should have gotten a little bubbly to celebrate, but instead we had sparkling water from Italy.

Bread & Breadsticks

I like the assortment of bread and breadsticks we received. They were all different textures, sizes, and taste. The plate of the two slices of bread was complimentary and they were spread with blue cheese. I'm really not a fan of blue cheese because of the smell and looks, but the slice of bread was actually not bad.

Insalata D'anatra

We started off with an appetizer known as Insalata D'anatra which is cherrywood-smoked sliced duck breast, watercress, and arugula. Will and I got our own plates which was a bit of a shock because I thought it was going to be one plate for us to share.

I love how every piece of food was plated neatly and nicely. I liked the smokey taste of the duck breast and it was perfectly sliced, but a little chewy. I've never had duck like this before so this was a different experience for me. There was a bit of acidity in the salad as I ate the arugula and watercress.

Ravioli Di Vitello, Proscuitto E Mozzarella

Will ordered the Ravioli Di Vitello, Proscuitto E Mozzarella which is homemade ravioli with veal, proscuitto, mozzarella with fresh tomatoes, and parmesan sauce. Will wasn't too excited with his dish because the taste was a little off and din't really appeal to him. I tried the ravioli and I thought it was mediocre. It was certainly not the best ravioli I've had.

Crespelle Con Funghi E Ricotta

As for myself, I had the Crespelle Con Funghi E Ricotta which is homemade silk handkerchief pasta, mixed mushrooms, lemon zest, and ricotta cheese. I've never had pasta like this before. This dish had a nice and light flavor to it. I really liked the assortment of mushrooms, but again I felt this dish was mediocre. It didn't quite "wow" me.

Next, we decided to order two desserts to share. I was crossing my fingers and hoped that the dessert wouldn't disappoint me like the entrees did.

Almond Flan

Will ordered the Almond Flan. I liked he picked a very light dessert because we were somewhat stuffed from the appetizer, bread, breadsticks, and our entrees. The almond flan wasn't too sweet which was perfect, but couldn't really taste the almond flavor much.

Vulcano

Finally, my dessert! I ordered the vulcano which is by far the damn, best dessert I've had so far! There's melting, luscious chocolate inside the warm cocoa sponge cake, served with vanilla gelato and fresh fruit.
I've had warm cocoa sponge cake with melted chocolate before, but nothing compare to this.

Ain't that sexy? Moving along, this dessert was really top notch! The warm sponge cake and melted chocolate was soft, velvety, and as I said before: luscious and warm! I never had vanilla gelato, but it was delicious and liked the bits of fruits too. I really and truly enjoyed my dessert.

In my opinion, I wasn't 100% thrilled with Basta Pasta. I mean I've heard a lot of great things about it, but maybe it's just a little overrated. i have been waiting and waiting to try this restaurant out and I am glad I did, but like I said the food was mediocre, certainly didn't make us smile or "wow" us afterwards.I didn't love Basta Pasta nor did I hate it. Will and I probably will not be back here anytime in the near future. We just think we've been to better Italian restaurants.