Dining at A Voce

NYAFF Part 2: After surveying the new Lincoln Center look, I walked up to the Walter Reade box office and picked up my tix for the opening night film, Ip Man 2. It was about 6:45 for what I thought was a 7:30 showing, and I was quite proud of myself for showing up early. Mystifyingly, however, there did not appear to be a line -- contrary to usual. When I casually asked where the line was, the box office guy informed me the showing was for *9:30* not 7:30. Gulp.

Chef K was understandably somewhat miffed that he'd cut short a bike ride to meet me at the theater, but guess what, I'm glad he did, because as a result we decided to go to A Voce in Columbus Circle for dinner before the movie!!

Chef K's friend Zach is a sous at A Voce, and he definitely showed us a good time. Over two glasses of exceedingly delicious champagne (really, too good -- I ended up with a headache during the movie), we first dug into this sampler of appetizers he sent out (l to r: cauliflower with almonds and golden raisins, pickled ramps with pecorino, roasted cipollini and roasted beets with pistachios), plus two fluffy pieces of rosemary ciabatta with some kind of creamy ricotta spread sprinkled with olive oil:

Then the entrees came -- porcini-filled raviolini (absolutely delicious) and scallops with a cauliflower puree (and I forget what that orange stuff was in the picture -- I think a very light citrus sauce -- this was Zach's recommendation, not even on the menu):

Finally, Zach sent out a trio of desserts -- (clockwise from top) two types of ice cream (I think they were hazelnut and a delicate sour cherry), vanilla pannacotta with mashed strawberries and crunchy fennel, and warm vanilla cream-filled sugared Tuscan donuts with Valrhona dark chocolate sauce:

Quite a feast, and not one I'll soon forget. The Central Park views were just as amazing as everyone says, by the way. Thanks, Zach!