I spent the last two weeks in New York, with Domenico, Sophie and Emma. Most of the time was spent with my sisters and their families, but I did manage one girls’s night out. Melissa, Alice and I ended up at the John Dory Oyster Bar, where I’d never been. Arriving with a slightly horse voice (I’d been talking too much I guess) I immediately ordered a hot toddie, which I guess soothed me enough to continue nattering away for the next two hours with friends. It’s quite a scene there, and I think I nattered louder than I should have, since buy the time I left I had completely lost my voice.
But while I lost my voice, I gained a recipe. Win some, lose some, right? While Alice took over wine ordering, I completely left food choices to Melissa. A satisfyingly stupendous tower of oysters was followed by my newest obsession: bottarga stuffed carta da musica.
Although Melissa had, in theory, ordered this dish for Alice (who doesn’t eat oysters) I had a hard time not gobbling up the whole thing. So simple, yet so incredibly delicious. Crisp cracker, sweet, fatty butter and salty, fishy bottarga.
Three ingredients: carta da musica, butter, bottarga. Genius. 
Carta Musica with Bottarga
2 pieces of Carta da Muscia*
Softened sweet butter, the best you can find
Bottarga (from tuna or mullet)**
Make sure the butter is super soft, since the carta da musica is very delicate and can break easily. Thickly spread two pieces of carta da musica with softened butter.
Slice the bottarga as thinly as possible, and layer it atop one buttered slice of carta da musica. Don’t be stingy. Carefully lay the other cracker on top, butter side down.
Serve. It’s a bit of a crackly mess to eat, but worth it.
*Carta da Musica (yes, it means music sheets) is the super thin unlevened cracker from Sardegna. Also called Pane Carasau, you can substitute any other paper thin cracker. But just make sure it’s very thin.
**Bottarga are the dried egg sacks from mullet or tuna.
John Dory Oyster Bar
1196 Broadway (at 29th Street, in the Ace Hotel)
Elizabeth’s Newsletter from Italy
Sign up here for my newsletter! It’s full of fun information, travel tips, links to what I’m reading and doing, advance notice of my culinary tours, and reading events. Premium subscribers also have access to my new podcast, online events, and discounts and offers for some of my favorite tableware.
Looks pretty good. I think there was a distinct lull in food quality in NYC about 5 or so years ago, but it has come back up in the last couple. Part of that is a return to Italian and Italian-influenced cuisine and fresh food sourcing chefs. But you point to one stubborn problem with restaurants in NYC: most are way too loud for conversation. Part of that is New Yorkers, who simply cannot speak without shouting, and part of that is restaurant design – tall uncovered ceilings over maxed square footage with lots of tables on hard surface floors. I think it is more the economics of the restaurant business in NYC than anything else.
Have you been to Via Emilia (47 E 21st St) yet? I think that is a nice quiet place with a quite competent menu. Just in case your voice is still in recovery.
Hmm, I am wondering if Bottarga is the same thing as Poutargue? Will have to go and look that up. And I am glad to hear that you had a good time at John Dory. Sam Sifton’s original review made it seem so crazy that I have never even tried to go!
@jake: in fact, it’s hard to find a quiet restaurant where you can actually have a conversation. No, never been to Via Emilia. But I have to say, for better or worse , I tend not to go to Italian restaurants with what little time I’ve got in NYC.
@Lost in Provence: Not sure about Poutargue. Let me know. And SS was right, it is a slightly crazed scene there.
OT -and I apologize for that-: Congratulations for landing a “prime” Real Estate article on the International Herald Tribune! http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/greathomesanddestinations/palazzo-for-sale-in-central-rome.html
Wait, really? I was totally there last week! What a small world! I wonder if we crossed paths 😉
@Amanda: I was there the 29th, you?
@Vannim: Thanks!
“But I have to say, for better or worse , I tend not to go to Italian restaurants with what little time I’ve got in NYC.”
Oh right – what was I thinking? Sort of a busman’s holiday…:-)
@Vannim: thank you! Yes, the piece got a lot of play, both in the Times, then got reported on back in Italy as well.
@Jake: Yes, busman’s holiday exactly!
That looks delicious. Very nice.