NYCReview
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Babs
Included In
Babs is a Basque restaurant in Greenwich Village from the team behind Mimi - a sexy-but-not-cheesy French place nearby where we tell everyone we know (including our own partners) to celebrate their anniversaries. And even though these two spots share the same three-block radius and incredible sourdough starter, Babs is entirely singular. It’s a very good restaurant that looks like Elizabeth Taylor in room-form - but it’s by no means the perfect place for everyone.
Babs is what we like to call Rich Person Casual, or RPC for short. You’ll be able to sense it the second you walk in. After you’re seated at a particularly luscious green velvet banquette next to a floor-to-ceiling window, you’ll browse a short menu with a typeface that would make most wedding invitations feel self-conscious. Part of the experience at Babs is eavesdropping on your table neighbors - who have probably been to the Creative Arts Emmys. We once overheard a woman wearing jeans and a pajama-adjacent sweater next to us say, “Honestly, I told her she’s just wasting her time if she’s not on the board of the Guggenheim.” Some people might find the act of swirling a wine glass while throwing art world shade a bit snobby. But for the woman in the sweater, this is just a casual, $85 Wednesday night at Babs.
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
The food, though expensive and precious, is exciting and excellent. In the event that you don’t know anything about food from the Spanish-French Basque region, ask yourself a simple question when ordering: do I see this dish a lot in NYC? If so, skip it. This will allow you to bypass the steak and the crudo - you’ve had nicely-cooked steak and perfectly good crudo before and you’ll have them both again. Since meals here skew more expensive than the cost of hiring a dog sitter for a day, you may as well try something less common.
There’s the fantastic crab salad that comes on what’s essentially the Porsche of latkes, or the tagliatelle with clams, pieces of thin, cured ham and a mustard beurre blanc sauce that gets more intensely mustardy and complex with each bite of pasta. And then there’s the kokotxa (fried cod throat) appetizer that’s unexpectedly smooth inside and comes with a ton of spicy piquillo pepper sauce underneath, like a daybed in a pied-à-terre. Another standout is the divorced sea bream. It’s split open with a sheet of tangy red romesco sauce on one half, and a green, nutty herb pistou on the other. This sea bream is yet another reminder that divorce is sometimes for the best. But no matter which of these dishes you commit to, you need to get a side of Babs’ little loaf of sourdough - it’s a $6 gift to this world.
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
While the peacock-color-story space is about as casual as saying “I love you” on a first date, the service at Babs feels remarkably relaxed. It’s possible you’ll notice the extremely helpful sommelier throw up the deuces sign to a group leaving the restaurant (this happened). It’s also possible your server will be sporting a camp counselor chic look, potentially including fruit earrings and scrunchies. These characteristics are all charming, if not slightly confusing in contrast to the $1000 bottle of Bordeaux on the menu. It’s just Rich Person Casual at its finest.
But maybe you aren’t part of the RPC community yourself, and you don’t have any friends who could even hypothetically be on the board of the Guggenheim. Babs is too expensive for a casual weeknight dinner and it’s not quite special enough for an anniversary or a baller night out with your friends. And even though we really like the food and would happily eat it again and again, Babs is ultimately hard to recommend for everyone.
Food Rundown
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Sourdough Bread
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Scallop Tartare
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Crab Salad
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Chilled Corn Soup
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Tagliatelle
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Kokotxa
photo credit: Teddy Wolff
Divorced Sea Bream
photo credit: Teddy Wolff