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I have a confession to make: I am a Food Network junkie. I could spend days watching other people cook food with exotic ingredients. I have spent hundreds of dollars on celebrity chef cookbooks, and hours attempting to recreate the amazing dishes I saw on television. My ultimate celebrity chef crush is Jamie Oliver but he doesn’t have a New York City restaurant yet so I was “stuck” with Mario Batali. It really is tough to be me sometimes.

Before I even booked a flight to New York, I started perusing the menus at Mario’s various restaurants. After a great deal of inner debate, and a very generous gift from my foodie parents, my plan was set: lunch at Lupa and dinner at Babbo.

I’m glad I chose Lupa for lunch since the pasta, while tasty, was not the dream meal I had been envisioning. That said, I will never be able to eat Spaghetti Carbonara again now that I’ve had it at Lupa. So often Carbonara is served as a creamy, heavy mass of pasta. This was so light, and well seasoned I could happily eat it every day for lunch and never get tired.

Before I start gushing about Babbo I want to comment on the amazing service at both of these restaurants. I take customer service very seriously and was incredibly impressed by everyone from the hostess and coat check girl to the bartenders and wait staff during both of my dining experiences. They were polite, knowledgeable, and really very personable. Most importantly, I didn’t feel rushed at either restaurant and was left to enjoy my meal at my own leisurely pace.

Now onto the main event! Sadly I was not able to get reservations for Babbo since I wanted a table for one, but was assured that I would be able to order anything I wanted if I sat at the bar. The original draft of this post ran over four pages long which is a little excessive even by my standards. So you’ll have to come back tomorrow to find out about my brilliant meal at Babbo.