At A Voce, Andrew Carmellini is known for his toned, tightly controlled flavors. But the most popular appetizer at the restaurant, he said, is a blowzy, loose bowl of sheep's milk ricotta mixed with herbs, drowned in olive oil and placed on the table next to a pile of grilled bread. "It's stupid simple, really," he said.
Not quite. Mr. Carmellini is smart enough to specify that the bread be seasoned with salt as well as olive oil, that the thyme in the mixture be fresh but the oregano dried ("domestic fresh oregano is large-leaf and grassy, not what you want"). As for the ricotta, it is imported weekly from Sardinia and made with sheep's milk, which is tangier and richer than cow's milk but has less flavor of the barnyard than goat's milk.
