In recent weeks I dined at the Relais &
Chateaux classic, Del Posto, for the second time, and while, on the whole, we
enjoyed ourselves, my recent excursion to the massive Mario Batali Italian
eatery was, admittedly, less pleasing than my first visit. In both cases the
food was fantastic – thank goodness! But during this second trip, I found
myself somewhat disappointed in the service, so please allow me to get my
service complaints out of the way before moving on to happier, yummier topics!
Let me begin by saying that the meal took four and a half hours… for five courses. Seriously. I spend less
time at the table at Per Se, Jean Georges, and Daniel, all of which have 7+
course tasting menus. And it didn’t feel as though the pace was in an effort to
keep things leisurely—in fact, it seemed that they were trying to intentionally
stall the beginning of service. It took a good 10 minutes just to get a food
menu, and ordering our first round of drinks became unnecessarily lengthy.
We later learned that another group of friends
dining at Del Posto that same evening not only finished earlier than us despite
having had a later reservation, but their entire meal was complimentary due to
the severs’ computer system crashing—I suspect there were earlier issues with
the computer, hence the stalling of our service, but who’s to say for sure?
Either way, the sub par service hampered our overall experience.
In fairness, though, although sluggish, the
service was genuinely attentive early on—but then it felt that we were
essentially abandoned—I had to shamelessly spend several minutes trying to flag
down ANYONE so that I could order another glass of champagne.... not something
that makes me a happy camper when I’m dropping that kind of dough! They served
a complimentary glass of Moscato with dessert as compensation, but I’d rather
have had an attentive server than the low-quality syrupy dessert wine.
And…..phew! Now that I’ve gotten the snobbish bitching
out of the way (I can’t help myself!), I’ll move on to what I most enjoyed…the CUISINE!!!
We chose to enjoy the Il Menú Del Posto, a lovely
five course tasting. Each guest selects her own Antipasto, Secondo, and Dolce
courses from the full a la carte menu, whereas for the back-to-back Primi
courses (between the Antipasto and Secondo), everyone at the table must agree
upon two pastas to share. Here’s the lowdown on the evening’s fabulous fare:
The trio of amuse bouches was a great opening act—I particularly enjoyed the savory celeriac soup with ground espresso on the cup’s rim.
 |
| Trio of Amuse Bouches |
I love that instead of a traditional pairing of
olive oil with the bread course, we were given both unsweetened butter and
lardo (yum!) as spreads.
 |
| Lardo and Butter Spreads |
The beef cruda was seriously one of the most flavorful raw beef dishes I’ve ever had – and it was a very generous portion…what an amazing way to kick off the meal!
 |
| Truffled Beef Carne Cruda with Grana Padano & Watercress Buds |
For the Primi courses we opted first for one of
the supplemental dishes, the Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi – OMG soooo good—I
loved breaking into the soft gnudi and reaching the yellow yolky goodness
inside, which, paired with truffle butter and ricotta, was mouthwateringly delicious!
 |
| Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi with White Truffle Butter Bird’s Nest Style |
 |
| Ricotta & Egg Yolk Gnudi |
Our second pasta selection entailed a surprising
garnish of ground chocolate espresso, which, coupled with a savory parsnip
purée, really zhuzhed up the hearty pork and veal agnolotti.
 |
| Pork & Veal Agnolotti with Sugo Finto, Parsnip Purée & Chocolate Espresso |
Despite my usual inclination to order a beef or
duck dish as my main course, the Heritage Pork Trio sounded too good to pass up—and
boy am I glad I didn’t! Each piece of pork was incredibly tender and
scrumptious and, somehow, managed to taste even better than I thought pork
could ever taste.
 |
| Heritage Pork Trio with Sunchoke Stew alla Norcese |
Sadly, we felt we were a little ‘duped’ on the
dessert course. Generally, each guest orders her own selection from the Dolci
menu, but our server recommended that we receive an assortment of desserts
instead. That sounds good in theory, but we expected a large plate of assorted
desserts everyone could taste from—instead, each person received a separate,
different dessert, and the only way for everyone to indulge in each would have
been to pass all five plates around the oversized table—yeah, not gonna happen.
So we all felt that we missed out on what may have been some really great
desserts.
Thankfully the meal concluded with some mignardises on a box cheese grater,
which included one of my favorite Italian desserts—bomboloni.
 |
| Mignardises |
In sum, this trip to Del Posto left a bitter
taste in my mouth service-wise, but the food really impressed – it’s so
unfortunate when lackluster service infringes on a great culinary experience. But
despite the dissatisfying service, I would return for a third visit—the food has
consistently been amazing and the service the first time was up to par—but in a
city full of near perfect dining experiences, I expect better from a topnotch
place like Del Posto.
#delposto #relaisandchateaux #mariobatali
#michelinguide #tastingmenu #tastingnewyork
