Popped by Eataly late this afternoon.
They had huge trays of uni in the fish section, freshly caught in Baja. I think the trays were $69 and if I were having a dinner party, I definitely would have scooped up a tray. They also had very nice looking whole sardines.
For anyone interested, the counter guy gave me the phone number of the manager of the fish counter (616 821 7509) and said I could call or text to see what was in stock and to give special requests (like for more of that amazing New Zealand tarakihi fish).
Since a planned dinner engagement had fallen through, I headed over to Il Pesce around 5:20 p.m. for an early dinner. Michael Cimarusti was just leaving (I had seen him earlier at the counter prepping). Even that early, it was a bit of a chore getting seated at the restaurant. Give your name (which apparently you are not allowed to do until precisely 5:15 p.m.) and then wait for a text. I didn’t get seated until 5:45 p.m. even though the bar was almost completely empty while I waited. They still seem to be working out the kinks and service was very choppy with a very long interval between crudo and main course.
For crudo, I had to order the uni (from Santa Barbara), having spied those huge trays of uni at the fish counter. The uni was sweet and delicious. For the main, I ordered Bluenose, which was very good, and fagioli gratinati. However, instead of the fagioli, they brought me spinach, announcing they were out of fagioli (at 6:20 p.m.?).
It took forever to get my check, but they charged me for the spinach and comped the Bluenose. It also took forever for them to pick up my credit card, but it was hard to feel churlish when they had just comped my entree.
By the time I left, there were the usual long lines to get into the pasta restaurant.
Even though as a general rule I am carb-phobic, I picked up a bombolini on my way out. Ate it at home for dessert. It was okay, but I didn’t think it was worth the calories or the carbs.
