Dinner at Del Posto

For Christmas, my sister and her boyfriend got us a gift certificate to Del Posto in NYC. To be honest, I’ve never even heard of the restaurant until I received the gift card and looked it up online. When I found out Mario Batali is one of the chefs, I could not be more excited! We could not wait to come visit them and take advantage of this awesome gift. Those guys know that the way to our hearts is through our stomachs

Del Posto is a super fancy Italian restaurant! It’s in the meatpacking district (kind of trendy) so I almost wore “going out clothes” but upon entering the enormous (and absolutely gorgeous!) formal dining room, I was really happy I wore a dress. Almost all the men wore jackets. Definitely fancy!

We originally had dinner reservations at 8:45 pm but due to spoiling our appetites earlier (a later post will cover that), we pushed the reservations back to 9:30pm. They were really accommodating to this last minute change! Great service!!

Since our dinner was kind of late, it was obvious they weren’t going to turn this table after us. The servers gave us our time – it really added to the feeling of luxury! Nothing was rushed; we got to really enjoy every course slowly and savor every bite

Upon reviewing the wine list (and ordering a bottle), this little plate of free appetizers arrived. I love when the chef sends over free food! Again, it just feels so luxurious This plate included 2 “shots” of split pea soup (I think) finished with chocolate (yes, chocolate! but it wasn’t very sweet) and a drizzle of olive oil, 2 mini prosciutto and cheese grilled sandwiches and 2 balls of butternut squash in candied walnuts.

My 1/2 of the apps:

Each one was so fun and unique! I think the squash ball was my favorite

Then we got our wine. A fabulous bottle! I probably had about 1/3 of it…

Then the bread basket arrived as well as the food menus. The bread basket was huge! I tried really hard not to fill up on it, so I had a tiny taste of each bread with the rosemary lard. The breads were homemade and warm, but honestly nothing was mind-blowing amazing. I definitely made sure to save room for the “real food.”

For my appetizer I wanted to have something on the lighter side, so I asked the waiter for a suggestion. He recommended the lobster salad (but that had onions! eww), the vongole or the tomato mozzarella salad. Out of the latter 2, I thought the vongole sounded more unique so I got that.  Here it is…

Vongole marinate with fried roman artichokes & minted lentil dressing

Do you know what vongole is? I sure didn’t! (From www.answerbag.com):

Vongole refers to clams of various types, which is typically used in Italian dishes. It is typically seen in soup or served with pasta.

Ahha, now I know what it is! Seriously, even while I was eating it I had no idea they were clams. They tasted a little salty but I really didn’t know what they were. This dish was so complex… after my first bite I told my husband that I am amazed (and jealous) at how the chefs are able to come up with this stuff. I mean, who would have thought of combining these things together? And they worked so wonderfully! The fried artichokes were actually very lightly fried so the waiter was right, I didn’t feel weighed down by this appetizer at all! Delicious!!

For my entree, again I wanted something a little bit lighter so I went with a fish and ordered the artic char with calamaretti, romanesco cauliflower & truffle passato.

Truffles usually make everything better so I thought this dish would be nothing short of spectacular, but the truth is it was nothing special. I actually forgot that arctic char is very close to salmon in taste and texture, so I was expecting a white fish, and well this wasn’t white… although it was perfectly cooked. The truffle paste was actually very neutral tasting. Not “OMG, I want to lick the plate clean” like truffle oil usually is. I wish this dish was also a bit more veggie heavy. I enjoyed it, but only ate 1/2 because of course I had to save room for dessert!

Chocolate Ricotta Tortino with toasted sicilian pistachios & extra virgin olive oil ice cream

It actually came pre-cut like this, showcasing the layers inside. How cute is the little tort? I’ve never had anything like this – a mix of ricotta pie and chocolate cake, covered in ganache and pistachios?! Yes, please!! The olive oil ice cream was pretty cool too. Very unique, but in a very good way… nice and creamy.

What a great way to end the meal! Oh wait… but there is more! We also got a mini cookie sampler on the house. Not like I needed any more dessert but I had to sample a few of these. There were mini brownies here (just ok – I had 1/2 of 1), apricot tarts (awesome!), candied almonds (yum), sugar cookies (didn’t try them) and white chocolate flakes cookies (it’s the brown flaky guys… sorry I don’t remember what else was in them. At first I thought they were tasteless but then the waiter came over and told us we must try them. After he described them to us, I definitely could taste all those flavors and they seemed a lot more special.)

Finally, AFTER we paid the bill, the waiter came over with a free round of moscato wine! This was the best dessert wine I’ve ever had! Too bad I don’t remember the name of it

Adam and I had such a great time! We go out to dinners this nice so rarely – it was a really special treat! Thanks Inna and Derek again for letting us experience this! And for all of you that live (or visit NY) – if you want a super fancy Italian meal, I’d recommend this place Although if you haven’t been, I’d probably recommend Alto first!