Centro Vinoteca, NY, NY

It’s places like this that make me wish I had a more refined palate, a better knowledge of wine, and so much more money.
As I walked into the crowded yet friendly restaurant on Saturday night, I was greeted by smiles of the chefs visible through the semi-open wall that contained the kitchen. The atmosphere was nice, the entire place resonating with confident elegance. What I liked particularly was the lack of ostentatiousness that so many of the surrounding restaurants had. As far as I could tell there were no gimmicks or inappropriate themes, just a graceful approach to housing great wine and great food.
My intuition was soon confirmed as we ordered our first bottle and our piccolini. These small plates offered just a sampling of different items, enough to share a taste around the table. The rose wine we began with was nice, but the delicate and delicious flavor of the truffle-deviled eggs is what stands out from the beginning of our meal. The creamy yolk filling was beautifully infused with the flavor of truffles and was velvety smooth.
How can this be followed, I thought. The perfect balance of our next bottle of wine, a white Sicilian, crisp and delicious, answered me. It was one taste sensation after another and soon our antipasti arrived: braised oxtail. I had never had oxtail before but the person who ordered it proclaimed it his favorite meat, with a deeply sweet flavor and buttery texture. I cannot say for certain if all oxtail dishes come out this good, but it was easy for me to see how this could be someone’s favorite.
As we continued to thoroughly enjoy our Sicilian white, which remained as pleasant throughout the different dishes, out came our primis: pea and goat cheese ravioli, and lamb ragout with crispy gnocchi. The lamb ragout was very rich and flavorful, truly a portrait of decadence. The combination of lamb and gnocchi is something I’d like to see more of. It was complimented nicely by the ravioli, the pasta itself so light and perfectly cooked. The filling was a really nice blend, the flavor of the pea was in fact stronger than the goat cheese which was mild as far as goat cheese is concerned, keeping the richness of the dish under control, especially appreciated when paired with so many other rich dishes.
Somewhere between finishing our primis and receiving our secondis the third bottle, a red from Puglia, was poured; while not as delicious as the perfect Sicilian white that preceded it, it was a nice accompaniment to the culmination of our dinner. Among the secondis were the rosemary chicken and the pork chop. My sustained reaction was ‘how do they make this so good?’ I am not a chicken lover, I am easily bored with it, but I could eat this dish forever! My amazement was only heightened to the next level when I tried the pork chop. Not only did we encounter the world’s greatest chicken recipe, but we’ve also found the most delicious pork chop. I don’t know how one infuses such simple yet perfect flavor into a piece of meat, but every bite was tender and full.
So blown away was I that I seized the opportunity to ask the head chef, Anne Burrell, who happened to be there, how she made everything so good. Her response was beautiful and honest, she said simply “Well, I love it!” “So do I!” And so will you, if you are fortunate enough to dine at Centro Vinoteca in New York’s West Village.