Buca Yorkville is a fairly large place of two rooms. The front room contains the bar and the second room is alongside the open kitchen.  The long wall is lined with bench seating and there are seats along the kitchen counter where the show is non-stop action. We were there for lunch where they serve a smaller menu, but it still contains their fresh made pastas and pizzas.  The staff were all friendly and helpful as well as willing to answer questions posed by me sitting at the counter.  

 

They started us with a small amuse bouche based on their pizza as we sipped our Spritz and got in the Italian frame of mind. It was a delicious round of crust topped with tomato sauce and cool burrata and topped with a sprig of fresh basil, like their burrata pizza option.

 

Our pizza arrived soon thereafter – a thin crust with a nicely puffed edge of slight doughiness.  The crust had a great chew, even on the thinner middle portions and held the ingredients successfully.  The sausage was really savory and each bite was a luxurious mixture of texture and strong flavors. The olives stood up to the sausage and overall it was a winner.

 

The pastas were both delicious.  The tagliatelle was mixed with mussels, guanciale as well as a number of other flavorful things.  It had a wonderful texture to the pasta as well as the sauce. The crispy guanciale was particularly fun.

 

The Bigoli was creamy with the “fat spaghetti” cooked perfectly and with enough texture to make the sauce adhere to the strands.  It was our favorite of the two.

 

For dessert we tried the Torta di Polenta which was a porous polenta cake surrounded by goats milk and topped with blood orange and crowned with a yogurt cookie.  The cake absorbed the milk and the orange juice to make it moist and tasty.  The cookie added a bit of textural contrast to this sweet creamy cake.

 

The Crostata de Fichi or fig tart turned out to be an old family recipe from the family of the chef Sarah Fiore, who had been standing, cooking in front of us much of the meal. It was a warm rich crust filled with large pieces of tasty fig and pear and studded with marcona almonds that added a crisp texture along with the crust.  The ricotta gelato was nice but this tart didn’t really need any enhancement – it was great all on its own.  Not too sweet but with lovely fruit flavors and buttery crust. It is worth a visit just to try it! Yum x2!