VISION LOCATION RESERVATIONS CALENDAR PLAYERS EMPLOYMENT PRESS SUBSCRIBE CONTACT US GIFTS BOOKS		May 2002 "MOLTO" MARIO & CO. Star chefs get to play food critic when food critics play chef. We road-testt their new books, the authors demand more vino, and everybody wins (expect the pig THE AUTEURS: Mario Batali, Food Network host, author and chef and co-owner of New York's celebrated Italian restaurants Babbo, Lupa and Esca; his partner, co-owner Joe Bastianich; Babbo wine director David Lynch THE AMATEURS: GQ's two Adams, Rapoport and Sachs (winners, James Beard Pro-Am Latke Cook Off, 1999) THE TEXTS: The Babbo Cookbook, by Batali (Clarkson-Potter, $40); Vino Italiano, by Bastianich and Lynch (Clarkson Potter, $35). THE SETTING: A charmingly miniature apartment in the West Village with a shortage of wineglasses. THE MEAL: 5:59 Rapoport: "Holy Sh--, they're coming!" Sachs: "Shut up and cut the truffles!" 6:05 Guests arrive and Ruggeri Prosecco is served. Lynch approves. Bastianich is pleased, as it was purchased from his store, Italian Wine Merchants. 6:07 Chickpease bruschetta is serverd on bread from Sullivan Street Bakery (where Babbo gets is bread). Batali: "Good taste, but you undercooked the chickpeas. In the book, we suggest canned chickpeas." Rapoport: "Um, no you don't." Bastianich: "Killer with the prosecco." 7:15 Headcheese is delivered with thin boiled potatoes, pickled shallot rings, mustard seed and parsley oil. Batali: "You actually made the testa! Bastianich: "They got a pig's head!" Tasting and looking pleased, Batali announces: "Your shallot pickes are a little bigger than ours, but I like them better. They're more surreal." Vino Italiano comments on the pork-cutting sharpness of Friulian whites, so a 2000 Scarbolo Tocai Fuiliano is offered. Well received, it is drained immediately. 7:22 Batali: "Is there someone around here you gotta blow for another glass of wine?" 7:35 Babbo's signature handmade pasta, beef-cheek ravioli, is presented. Batali takes one look and judges it too dry: "Bring me more pasta water. There. You see how when you adde it, it immediately emulsifies the sauce?" Rapopoart: "Well, you said in the book to add a few tablespoons of water -- I added more than a cup." Bastianich: "The pasta is terrific." Lynch, on the Piedmontese blend called Segreto Cascina Ebreo: "This is an awesome wine...but completely wrong for this dish. These are two flashy things that don't go well together." 8:03 Pumpkin-rosemary cakes with olive-oil gelato are served. Batali: "The flavor's great on the gelato, but it's slightly overchurned." Bastianich: "The cake is killer. Too many nuts, though." Batali: "There are not too many nuts." Rapoport: "How about I supposed to know what kind of cake mold to use?" Batali: "Ask someone at a baking store." Fight ensues over cake molds; more wine is served; a forgotten dish is discovered in the oven; Louis Armstrong's "All That Meat and No Potatoes" plays on the stereo. CONCLUSIONS: The Babbo Cookbook features excellent restaurant food that two obsessive amateurs can tacles at home -- although beginner cooks could use more hand-holding. Vino Italiano is comprehensive and a great read and cannot be faulted for the Segreto incident. Batali's final word: "When you get fired for putting the pig's skull on your expense report, you can come work for me."