Nobody knows if Mayor Eric Adams is a vegan, a vegetarian or a pescatarian — he doesn’t seem sure himself. But whichever, the fancy, new “coastal Italian” Midtown restaurant Osteria La Baia is one very peculiar choice for him to hang out.
Since enjoying a three-hour dinner there the night after his November election victory, he has made the place his “unofficial office,” according to Politico.com. The Post spotted him dining there with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last week, a few nights after he broke bread there with former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Osteria la Baia (129 W. 52nd St.) is airy and comfortable with lots of blond wood, giant sea-blue booths and colorful Mediterranean-themed murals. The 148-seater designed by AvroKO boasts a winning, if pricey, mostly traditional Italian menu devised by its owner, global restaurant group Bulldozer, and turned out by the company’s executive chef Brian VanderGast. The staff are super friendly although coy on Adams’ eating habits. (“We’re not allowed to say,” one fellow explained.)
Adams said he “aspires to” be strictly vegan and practices a mostly “plant-based” diet, which he credits with saving his life. But he has “occasionally eaten fish,” he admitted.
But is Osteria la Baia’s menu consistent with his wellness and dietary goals? Ha, and affordable housing for all!
You’d think a guy in love with roots, seeds and leaves would favor vegan restaurants with lots of roots, seeds and leaves. There’s no shortage of them, from Bushwick’s casual Hartbreakers to Flatiron’s fine dining Eleven Madison Park.
But for even a part-time vegan to choose animal- and fish-centric Osteria la Baia is like a committed nondrinker falling for uptown’s party-animal magnet Stumble Inn.
Maybe Adams toe-tapped his way through Osteria La Baia’s scant few vegan options such as eggplant rigatoni. Or a dessert cocktail called the Sicilian. The smooth, holiday season-redolent elixir of vodka, crème de cacao and pistachio elements standing in for ice cream made me come back for more.
But the restaurant’s salads all have either burrata or Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. The Caesar piles on white anchovies for fishy fun.
Pan-seared skate, one of only two seafood entrees and a house pride — which Adams is rumored to have had — is slathered in ‘Nduja (spreadable pork sausage) cream sauce. So much that I had trouble tasting the skate. I could barely differentiate it from soppressata- and-Comté cheese pizza when I put them on the same plate just for fun. Of course, Adams might have told them to hold the sauce — but it would leave him with a very bare piece of fish.
He would be better off with fleshy and sweet whole branzino in bright-red pizzaiola sauce grilled in the open kitchen over a wood fire — one of the most delicious seafood entrees I’ve had in a while, priced at a jaw-dropping $55.
I also enjoyed overnight-brined, braised veal osso buco and perfectly al dente orecchiette, thick with Italian sausage and pecorino Romano cheese. Of course, none of them is remotely in the mayor’s plant-driven wheelhouse either.
Adams should invite school kids — on whom he has forced widely ridiculed vegan Friday lunches — to Osteria la Baia to make it up to them.
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