NFT and I visited Mario Batali's meatpacking outpost one chilly evening during the fall of 2008. It had just gotten really chilly - we stepped into Del Posto's warm antechamber and were whisked up a staircase to a table overlooking the main room... Think marble, think wood panelled, think white glove service, and you have an idea what to expect. Naturally NFT and I were a little taken - we were expecting something like Babbo, so we were surprised when it turned out to be so buttoned down... In a hood with avant garde restaus like Florent, Morimoto and Pop, Del Posto is more Park Avenue than Meatpacking... After the initial culture shock, it grew on me - felt like it was the 20s again - excess was in, long stemmed lillies, magnum bottles of wine, low lighting... and lots of uniformed wait staff....
I ordered a whisky, NFT got tap water, while I warmed myself with a Balvenie. They arrived with a huge platter of breads to choose from, and brought a Batali signature out - lardo. Normal restaurants serve your bread and butter, Del Posto serves you bread with butter (left) and house cured lardo (right). My cholesterol jumped into the "excessive" level after one heaped teaspoon on my crusty olive bread...
NFT started with the foie gras palla with black figs and insalata rucheta, I started with a poached farm egg with guanciale & mushrooms. She loved the fois gras... they made a terrine and had a vinegarette center in the terrine ball, and chopped almonds crusting the terrine. When she sliced it open, the jus exploded out. Fig's sweetness complimented the tart of the jus. It was tasty as hell - tart, and extremely flavorful. The farm egg was so so.... most definitely not memorable...
NFT had caramelle de robiola with black truffle butter for the secondi - whoo hoo - now this was pretty good - the plate was huge, but the portion was tiny - the caramelle kinda melts in your mouth, the black truffle had all the earthiness, all the flavor, that one comes to expect... Starchy, smooth, splendid flavor, rich aftertaste, bliss for about 5 mins. Portion sizing was mildly pathetic... I had Gnocchi with pork shoulder, spiced prunes and pine croccante. Gnocchi was firm, al dente, savory, each bite a warm reminder of all that's good... Pork shoulder was pulled, and in small quantities, more for taste than texture... Prunes were nice touch, again, delicate... Size control, also disappointing.
Sliced duck breast with scappi, pumpkin polenta, trevisano and campari. 1 word - forgettable. Seriously - I could write about dishes from Aburiya or Kyoya from 1 year ago, the Babbo bone marrow has gripped me since 2005. On the other hand this was forgotten the minute we walked out the restaus.
Grilled pork chop - I recall the texture was unusually moist, tender and succulent - think biting into a warm block of butter, but with the iron taste of pork - was awesome. The seared outer portion was smoky.. the rarer meat in the middle done just right... the sides were forgettable, the meat sublime.
NFT ordered the Chocolate Ricotta Tortino, with Sicilian Pistacchios, and olive oil - clearly another attempt to build a savory sweet desert, very 2008. Rich, a little heavy, very interesting, but not something I'd do twice.
I went for the Sfera di caprino with celery sorbet - again, strange, but thankfully not heavy, pretty fresh. The celery taste was strong and sharp - didn't really think it was worth the calories...
After the dinner, we wandered down and discovered a wine cellar which was truly impressive, and a whole bunch of cool spaces - fancy - but frankly the food was very inconsistent - some superb, some blah. Batali seems to be becoming more passe - in his pursuit of michelin stars he seems to have forgotten the crucial reason why patrons come - good, solid food, in predictable sizes, with consistency across courses...
All Del Posto Photos
Address: Del Posto, 85 10th Ave, New York, NY 10011
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