New York City Mozzarella Bar Introduces Missing Link

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed)
Feb 21st 2011 at 8:01PM

Nothing beats sitting down with the fresh mozzarella and pasta fare available at Obika, the midtown Manhattan mozzarella bar. Rather than disrupt your perfect city Saturday by scarfing down the heavily tourist fare available within striking distance of the shop's location on E. 56th Street and Madison Avenue, you can amble into the public atrium at the IBM Building and enjoy bufala at its finest.

The only thing missing has been a great glass of wine to accompany it. Well, the good news is that it won't be a problem anymore.

Anthony Fauci, managing partner of Obika's New York location, told me over the weekend that the restaurant has just received its liquor license, and that the libations are flowing. The offering is so new that the wine menu hasn't even been published on the Obika website yet, though Fauci tells me to expect options from Campagnia, Veneto,Tuscany and Puglia, not to mention "a few surprises." For now, the only way to find out is to head over and order a glass with your dish. I'm hoping to get there within the next few days.

Gallery: Obika: Mozzarella Bar in Manhattan

Fresh bufala is flown in three times a week

Even without a chef, the creations are delicious

When asked about the move to offer wine and beer at Obika, Fauci told me, "It's always been missing, and we've been working to make sure we could offer the complete experience. We know that not having wine has been the only serious criticism of Obika. Unfortunately, it's not the kind of thing you can fix overnight." But, he adds, all that is in the past. "We're excited to offer a wide range of Italian wines, the perfect complement to the other ingredients we work so hard to bring to our guests."

So, is it time to imbibe? Check out the wine list for yourself. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about this. It's time to sip while I chomp!

Tags: food, manhattan, mozzarella, MozzarellaCheese, new york city