the best meal is a free one (or at least one someone else pays for)
Friday night I had dinner, courtesy of my boyfriend’s family, at Del Posto in New York City. It was my first and most likely, considering my college degree is in English Literature, my last five course meal at a restaurant. Del Posto is co-owned by Mario Batali, that chubby Italian guy from Iron Chief America. I knew it was a really classy restaurant by the fact that I couldn’t identity most of the items on the menu. Not only did we get bread to start (five different kinds! one being olive bread! they know my weakness!), but other samples, courtesy of the kitchen. My favorite, not because of taste, but because of sheer tenacity, was the hot lettuce soup with goat cheese foam. Taste-wise, the peas fried with mint were much better. My appetizer was Abalone Carpaccio, White Asparagus & Charred Ramps. I asked and found out that meant I was eating a large snail, carpaccio just means raw meat sliced thin. The asparagus were white due to a lack of chloroform, caused by keeping dirt piled up around the stalk as they grow. White asparagus have a milder flavor than the more common green ones, which are the ones I prefer. Ramps are a member of the onion family and more commonly known (at least to me) as spring onions.
The first dish of pasta was Spaghetti Rotti with Dungeness Crab, Sliced Jalapeno & Minced Scallion. Spaghetti always bores me a bit, but the crab was good, and add hot spice to anything and I’ll love it. The next pasta was something elaborately called Garganelli Verdi al Ragù Bolognese . This was my favorite pasta. Ever. It was pasta made out of spinach and covered in a tender meat sauce. Dishes like this make me wonder why I was ever a vegetarian. I think this recipe might be the one for the sauce http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/ragu-bolognese-recipe2/index.html Highly recommended by me!
My entree was Organic Scottish Salmon with Grains, Sprouts & Mustards della Terra. This dish was all about presentation. It was beautiful to the point where I felt bad cutting into it. Pink fillet of fish covered with brown and grey grains, colorful twisting shoots of spinach, ferns and edible flowers. When I finally did break into it, I found the end pieces a little to undercooked for my liking, resulting in a slimy texture, but the center pieces were delicious. Mike had the duck, which I preferred, being amazing tender and moist. Accompanying dinner I had half a bottle of white wine from the vineyard of one of the restaurant’s owners. Smooth and fresh. For dessert I enjoyed a tartufo al caffe with dark chocolate, Sant Eustachio coffee & candied lemon. I wasn’t sure what I was ordering but I figured if it had chocolate in it it would be ok. It was more than ok. It turns out a tartufo is ice cream in a hard chocolate shell. (Apparently, according to Wikipedia, it is a common dessert in Italy. I’M MOVING THERE RIGHT NOW.) To top off the meal I had a cappuccino, with the foam forming a delightful little heart on the top of cup.
Food, exquisite. Service too. But that’s was the problem I had it all. I don’t believe I could ever get used to places like Del Posto. I don’t like people pushing in my chair, or hovering around the table, refilling my glass anytime it goes down a quarter of an inch. I know my tastes aren’t discriminating enough to be a food critic of any quality. Hell, my five year anniversary dinner (which pleased me to no end) was from falafel truck and consumed sitting on the sidewalk. But none the less, Del Posto was an amazing experience and one I’ll treasure more because of its rarity.
3 years ago • Notes