Stracchino and Sun-dried Tomato Tartine
by Nancy Matsumoto
June 9, 2011
BUVETTE
42 Grove St
(Bleecker & Hudson Sts)
New York, NY 10014
(212) 255-3590
Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
The stracchino and sun-dried tomato tartine at Buvette, like a lot of menu items at this inviting West Village “gastroteque,” is unpretentious comfort food at its best. Chef Jody Williams calls the dish a “gift,” because all she did was source some stellar ingredients: sundried pachino tomatoes from Sicily, the kind Williams remembers seeing drying over doorsteps; fresh, creamy crescenza, a member of the stracchino family of cow’s milk cheeses, and bread from Bensonhurst’s Royal Crown. Through some alchemy — involving a marinade of Calabrian oregano off the stem, sherry vinegar, capers and a panini press—the result is far more than the sum of its parts. The deeply sweet and tart tomatoes get along swimmingly with the melted crescenza, cloaked as they are in bright green olive oil. The key to this marvel? “The bread’s got to be thick enough so it can drink up the oil,” says Williams.
Also in Cheese, French, Tapas, West Village
