It's a Good One: Gottino's Anchovies

There are two kinds of people in this world: either the photo above grosses you out or it makes your mouth instantly fill with saliva. I'm in the second camp. Perhaps I have a genetic predilection for loving anchovies. My great grandfather, when asked how he was doing, used to say "like butter and anchovies" instead of something normal like, "good, how are you?"

That brings us to that magical combination. Fat plus salt is always dreamy, and this, along with lox and cream cheese, is a stellar example. Recently, I was not quite blown away by a couple of visits to Gottino, a new West Village wine bar—the fact that I was standing while eating might have been part of the problem—but the anchovy crostini ($5) won me over. The butter is made in-house and applied very generously to slices of toasted ciabatta. Then a few anchovies lay on top. Salt! Fat! Holler.

At Gottino, the chef uses Sicilian anchovies from Agostino Recca, which come in olive oil rather than packed in salt. I have recently been enjoying fillets from Roque, a French company ($12.99 for 5.3 ounces). Yeah, you can use the Roland stuff from the supermarket if you're going to cook the shit out of them, but we urge you all to embrace the real thing.

Gottino

52 Greenwich Avenue

(212) 633-2590