Babbalucci is a new casual Harlem Italian-American restaurant with wood-oven offerings. I was invited to 
stop by recently to sample their fare.
Seeing the roaring fire in the oven in the back of the restaurant, we just had to begin with one of the unusual pizzas. Ducky Too variety 
contains both mozzarella and scamorza cheeses covered with caramelized onions, then topped with fresh arugula and thinly sliced duck prosciutto ($16 for 12-inch). Next we tried their namesake as babbalucci means “snails” in Sicilian — an abundant serving of these shelled mollusks in 
a light garlicky butter and white wine broth, with grilled bread. My dining companion wished that dish had much more garlic.
I wonder why more places don’t serve grilled romaine lettuce as that heat process produces such a flavorful salad. Babbalucci’s comes with diced crunchy pancetta, a hefty portion of grana, some croutons and a light anchovy dressing ($10).
Wanting to try one of their pasta dishes, we ordered the fregola Sardinian pasta topped with mussels, clams, shrimp and scallops ($24). These tiny round balls of semolina pasta, which look similar to Israeli couscous, sop up the light white wine broth used to prepare the seafood. A bit more substantial dish is their rich version of eggplant parmesan — layers of eggplant, zucchini, tomato, mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano ($14).
Also good is the whole roasted wild porgy served with marinated tomatoes and shaved fennel ($23)
Save room for their housemade lemon ricotta cheesecake; like many of their entrees this is lighter than other versions I’ve sampled ($8).
– bonnie
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Babbalucci Italian Kitchen & Wood Burning Oven
331 Lenox Avenue
New York, NY, NY 10027
(646) 918-6572
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