Del Posto Restaurant Review
Celebrity chefs carry with them an always bifurcated sense of self, on one hand eminently aware that some sort of popular appeal is necessary while also desiring the respect of the culinary establishment. The tension this can create has been written about by many critics, most prolifically by Michael Ruhlman and most bitingly by Anthony Bourdain. Among the few chefs who are largely adored by both audiences remains Mario Batali, the orange-clog wearing chef of Italian lineage, someone whose restaurant concepts are markedly fresh, innovative and built less around classic Italian ingredients but more an elevated view of ingredients and sheer passion for food and life that the country is best known for.
In the last several years, Batali’s restaurant concepts have shown a mature reflection on what he sees as missing from New York’s market. Believing New Yorkers were ready to try the types of pizza he fell in love with while in Italy, he opened Otto. Initial problems with his dough recipe caused many to suggest that he had strayed outside the restaurant concept he knew best; however, within months of opening, Batali had worked out the kinks in his recipe and the pizzeria was soaring. This is a luxury many restaurateurs do not enjoy, but the Batali brand afforded this particular concept the time it would need to refine itself and find a willing audience (a wonderful glimpse into this is Bill Buford’s Heat).
Similarly, when Batali announced that he was opening Del Posto with the hopes of illustrating to all of New York what Italian cuisine would look like when elevated to a four star level, he was met with a variety of responses, most of which were not particularly positive. The four-star rating had eluded Batali thus far, with the restaurant he was best known for, Babbo, receiving three stars in large part because the reviewers found the ambiance to have a personality too far outside the accepted norms (Batali’s penchant for playing Neil Young or Led Zeppelin in the restaurant was one such noted example).
The sub-text to Batali’s three star rating is the apocryphal story about Maestro Martino’s, the Italian fifteenth century chef whose cookbook was supposedly taken from Italy to France by Catherine de Medici when she married King Henry II of France. Supposedly this began the process of Italian cuisine being subsumed by French, the aftermath having left Italian chefs then and now with a chip on their shoulder about which cuisine is more authentic and more capable of elevation to the highest of levels. Like all chefs proud of his culinary heritage, Batali’s most recent venture is an attempt to argue that Italian food can compete at the four star level with French food, a cuisine largely believed by many to be more reflective of preparation techniques and presentation worthy of the elusive ultimate rating.
Del Posto opened to a large amount of fan fare, with much of it focused on the spat between Batali and his landlord, as well as the onerous (to many) amount spent on the restaurant itself (around $12mm). When all subtexts were set aside, the ultimate (and most important) question remained: how good was the food? Good? Great? Would it be adequately differentiated from what Batali had already put forth at his restaurants Lupa and Babbo? Now open barely a year and a half, Del Posto has received a cautious blessing from the NY Times’ critic Frank Bruni.
Strangely enough, what Bruni seemed to miss at Del Posto was what he had against Batali at Babbo: at Del Posto too little of the Batali flair, at Babbo too much:
“It can be fiery and populist: spaghetti with crab, jalapeño and toasted breadcrumbs, the kind of go-for-broke flourish Mr. Batali indulges less often here than at Babbo.”
If you are not too sure what to make of this then join the crowd. Foodies can be a noxious bunch, the type of soulless critics that spoil the perfect sunset by complaining about the sand in their beach shoes. Personally, the dining experience at Babbo and Lupa suit my personality more – they are approachable but elegant, sophisticated but savory. In contrast, Del Posto is an elegant oasis of tranquil beauty in its own right, a quiet niche away from the hustle and bustle of New York where elegance is the one and only goal of the restaurant’s entire dining experience. During dinner, the service is splendid (if a bit pretentious at times), with small touches like a purse stool miraculously appearing wholly unnoticed by the entire dining party until the meal is over.
On to the food: the meal begins with a grouping of antipasti. For us this included radishes with butter, black olives half-immersed in warm olive oil served in a gold-rimmed tea cup, a cauliflower soup with a splash of red pepper emulsion, and a thinly sliced piece of cured tuna over a white bean puree both delicately placed on the top of a slice of toasted piece of bread (the latter being my personal favorite – its complex but subtle flavors were a wonderful way to begin the meal). Between these starters and our starters, the bread cart comes. The highlight here is not the bread itself, but the two spreads brought along with; specifically, the whipped lardo with fresh rosemary. This simply melts in your mouth leaving all the complexity of proper lardo, cured fat from a pig which is fed chestnuts the last two months of its life.
First courses included, for me, their special Wagyu Tritare. Essentially a sophisticated version of beef tartare, the Del Posto version used the classic ingredients (accenting a very elegant mustard as the binder), with thinly sliced white truffles gracing the top of perfectly diced beef. This dish exploded with flavor, and may have been my favorite of the night. It was perfection – one of the best tartare preparations I have ever had – while managing to be both a genuflection to the classic, it was also unique and creative. With this course, my wife ordered the Veggie Primavera, a grouping of seasonal vegetables along with house-made mozzarella. Very good, but safe and absent the piercing culinary insight from the Wagyu dish. We ordered a 1998 Poggio de Sotto for the table and were extremely happy with how it complimented our entire meal.
On to our pasta dishes: for my wife the Sheep’s Milk Ricotta & Sweet Pea NUDI with Pink Peppercorns, for me the SPAGHETTI with Crab, Chive Blossoms & Havanero Oil. The ricotta melted in your mouth, and my wife absolutely loved the taste and feel on her palate. I found it good, but in need of something savory to draw out the full richness of the ricotta. My spaghetti was pungent in the way a good crab dish must be: rich while at the same time light and flaky. The use of chive blossoms adds a nice deft textural depth, the slightest hint of a crunch to compliment the pasta, and the oil a nice heat to the overall dish.
Secondi began with a poached salmon my sister ordered. The fish was cooked for hours in an oil immersion, almost more of a classic confit preparation than anything else. The result was a fish that literally melted in your mouth it was so tender and luxurious. This dish was a perfect marriage of taste, technique and presentation. My wife and I elected to order the Veal Chop for 2 with Asparagus Tricolore & Barolo Fondo. As one would expect, the veal was cooked perfectly, the outer crust adding the delightful crunch and contrast of textures between it and the moist and succulent interior. The asparagus and barolo fondo successfully lightened what could have been a very heavy dish.
We ended the meal with a trio of desserts which, while good, were largely unremarkable. The Maculan Dindarello Moscato was the star of our final course, a profound and exquisite desert wine that I cannot more highly recommend. But what of the final impressions Del Posto leaves one with?
Italian and French cuisines are different, and their differences may make one better suited than the other to meet the predispositions of the most critical palates. Among our meal was only one dish that would have matched the tortured all-day long preparation and equally diligent sauce making French cuisine is known for. Conversely, each dish exemplified the elevation of wonderful ingredients to the height of their capabilities, a tactic best embraced by Italian food. All in all, the meal was wonderful and worth having again (next time I will throw caution to the wind and have the chef’s tasting menu), but in trying to become something it is not, Del Posto inevitably must be compared to other groups of French preparations instead of standing on its own very solid ground. Like his other ventures, Batali will learn from the early feedback and refine his concept further. We all eagerly await its ongoing development and maturation.
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“If anyone can show me, and prove to me, that I am wrong in thought or deed, I will gladly change. I seek the truth, which never yet hurt anybody. It is only persistence in self-delusion and ignorance which does harm.”
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August 23rd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
What in the menu, a food and wine critic! You’re gunna get fat!
Me thinks you make a better cigar and booze hound…right about that, and take me with you!