On a parchingly hot summer morning, I weighed whether it was better to wear shorts to a nice restaurant, or find myself slowly cooked to a roast on my day about town. So I don't know if it was just the day's weather, or the natural state of the restaurant, but when I showed up at Balena well-ventilated, I didn't find myself feeling out of place. At least that day, it seemed the sort of restaurant where you'd feel as comfortable in sandals as blazer/ties or Saturday girls'-night-out dresses. This is in part because of the service, carried out with warm humor and natural grace, as well as the food, which will no doubt has people reaching for thesauruses for words like "unfussy", "rustic", "peasant", and "damned tasty."
The space is the third part of that trifecta, a lofty-ceiling Italian barn-style (I imagine. I've never been in an Italian barn.) divided room, with homey-chic light fixtures, leather chairs, and a warm, earthy palette that never nears drab. There are a few minor issues, the up-front area by the bar and wide-glass doors are a little less exciting, a little less comfortably intimate than the back and second room. And sometimes you feel you're about to topple off the high chairs, along with the somewhat cramped tables. But for the most part, this is enviable ambiance and interior. In fact, the whole place screams for a patio; I'd be chowing down brunch on their rooftop or in their courtyard in a hearbeat.
But imaginary major renovations aside, the chow is the draw. We order the "Balena" cheese and salumi platter first, along with a couple of glasses from an interesting list. Let me tell you: the Balena is not meant to be shared for two. It's a literal smorgasbord of breads, spreads, meat and cheese, including a funky blue oregonzola and a terribly, terribly creamy robiola I would rub all over myself if this were a horror story and not a review. Aside from a few tough breads (Why do people like hard bread?), the platter is a fun mix-and-match game that you will win, and perfect for a table of four. The only thing I regret about this dish is how full it left me.
So we continued lightly. The smoked mackerel starter is meaty despite its clean and sushi-like appearance as well as quite small and expensive. Regardless though, it's a lovely dish, if not quite transcendent. The soft-cooked egg and pangrattato are wonderful, but the aioli could use more salt.
The tagliolini nero is similarly subtle. It's really a whole study in subtlety. Oftentimes, I am loathe to go to Italian restaurants. I love Italian food. But it's hard to make pasta, meat, and cheese taste bad, and harder still to justify the mark-up for such simple cooking. Only, the tagliolini falls nimbly between simple and complex. It tastes like the best ramen I've ever had. Oh, I wish the uni was a little bit brinier, a little bit stronger, and that big, sweet chunks of lobster were used instead of the crab, which is a touch washed out. And yet, the dish is a marvel of tiny, balanced, nuanced flavors: the smooth creaminess, the squid ink, the spice and the sea. The dish kept revealing more and more as I ate it, and the plot twists were good ones.
I wish I had had the room for one of the big meat dishes, but by this time I was dying. We had to back our way into dessert, a tiramisu and a Kir Royale sorbetto. The latter was fruity, cool, the right choice for a hot day, but it was sadly strong-armed by the alcohol. The tiramisu however was simultaneously light and dense, married to an appealing crumble and a espresso-roasted pear I wish was better integrated into the dish. Yet I left thinking Amanda Rockman's work was a breath of new life into an old stand-by.
All the nitpicking aside, Balena was the right choice for that night, and the right choice for many other nights. Laid back but convivial, casual yet elegant. It was somewhere between the wine, the fun little bites, and the stupid, ridiculous stories we were telling each other as I was being slowly and dangerously and entirely-voluntarily packed with meat and cheese and pasta that I was thinking Balena was a fun night out. Take advantage.
4.5/5 stars
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