DIVINE CUISINE AT DEL POSTO

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