Del Posto - 1 Michelin Star

As a late birthday celebration, we decided to try Del Posto. It is a 1 Michelin star Italian restaurant, owned by 3 food celebrities: Mario Batali (1 of America's Iron Chef), Joe Bastianich (known to some as Masterchef's judge) and Lidia Bastianich (TV food celebrities and a best selling cookbook author). 

It stood out to us as NY Times gave it a 4 stars, placing it on equivalent standing with 4 of the 7 3-Michelin stars restaurants in NYC:

• Eleven Madison Park
• Jean Georges
• Le Bernardin
• Per Se 
• Sushi Nakazawa (probably not featured in Michelin Guide as it was recently opened).

From this list, I have yet to try Sushi Nakazawa and Jean Georges (although I've tried Nougatine and other sister restaurants).

There is no ala carte in Del Posto. It's either 5 courses or Captain's Menu (8 courses) for dinner. Since it was an early dinner, 5 courses should be more than enough for us (yes it was). The courses are comprised of 1 appetizer, 1 entree and 1 dessert of your choice, and 2 pastas shared by entire table.

Before the courses, came the amuse-bouche. As always, I couldn't fully capture the ingredients as described by the waiter.

There was the parsnip soup, sprinkled with truffle dust on cup's edge. I found that the truffle dust helped to give a kick to the soup. Without the truffle, there was nothing wow in it, just a small comfort food.

Next was rice cracker with truffle and cheese which for some reasons, reminded me of a childhood snack. Nothing extraordinary but the truffle and cheese was tasty.

My favorite part of the amuse-bouche was the lobster cream puff (i think). Creamy, tasty packed in small bites. 

Basket with variety of breads. One was an olive bread. Can't remember the highlight of the left butter except that the right was made of pork lard. Either way, I found that both of them are pretty mild tasting. I kinda missed my travel days in Mclean where I ate the  popular bacon jam at Harth restaurant (inside Hilton Mclean) almost every weekday.

For appetizer, we got Charred Octopus with Umbrian Garbanzo, Celery Hearts & 25 yr Aceto Tradizionale. It was one of the best charred octopus I ever had. It had a good chewiness to it and not as tough as David Burke's. The 25 year old balsamic vinegar did not taste as vinegary as what I expected. Instead, it tasted sweet and fruity.

Next appetizer was Truffled Beef Carne Cruda with Grana Padano & Watercress Buds. Hands down, it was one of the best appetizers till date. After munching for a while, I found that it is best to eat it on separate intervals because after a while, your taste buds will be accustomed with the truffle and Law Of Diminishing Marginal Utility kicked in. I switched across appetizers multiple times and every first bites of this reminisced my first good impression.

Then came along the pastas - we ordered the pastas that were often talked about in Yelp. 

First was the Traditional Del Posto Garganelli Verdi al Ragu Bolognese. My first impression was.. of its portion size. It was pretty small and I can probably finish all in 4 full spoons. In terms of taste, it was chewy, creamy and savory pasta.

Next was Orecchiette with Lamb Neck Ragu, Orange Carrots & Toasted Rye which was equivalently sized as the first pasta. I preferred this one as I liked the burnt crunchy texture (I assumed it's the rye) and it was more savory to me. I don't believe I've seen the carrot presented in this manner- semi soft texture- which reminded me of baby food. Overall, I felt that it helped to give a different texture to the meal and gave some balance to the meal.

By this time, we were already moderately full but we still looked forward to the entrees. 

Michelle had Lobster with Artichoke, Almond, Basil Salad & Tangerine Essenza. We thought, you can't go wrong with a lobster. Oh boy were we wrong. I think our very first attempt on home-cooked butter poached lobster kicked this by a mile.

This dish was nicely presented but failed in our taste bud. It tasted plain. There was none or hardly any sauce, salt or cream at all. The chef might want to let its natural juice shine, but it's weak to say the least.

Luckily for me, I ordered Duck Breast alla Scappi with Radicchio Tardivo, Coarse Polenta & Olives in Amarena.

It was cooked medium rare and had a nice crust on the skin. What surprised me was the unexpected treat of foie gras butter. Not a big fan of Radicchio (the red leaves) as it tasted raw but to me, this was a real duck treat and definitely outshone lobster.

And finally, a dessert came. I thought it was a special exclusive dessert for my birthday (as we didn't order it), but realized soon that everyone got the same dessert less the candle. This was apple crumble with caramel and vanilla ice cream (if I'm not wrong). It tasted just fine but had no wow factor. Nice handwriting though. 

Next was Butterscotch Semifreddo Melon Agrumata & Crumbled Sbrisolona. By this time, we realized that all of our desserts have ice cream as complement. Not too bad as some desserts can be dry. We found that this dessert was best eaten as a whole as it had multiple taste profiles- sweet, sour and salty.

My chosen dessert was the Chocolate Ricotta Tortino with Toasted Pistachios & Extra Virgin Olive Oil Gelato.

Personally speaking, I felt this was a better dessert choice. The virgin olive oil gelato was one of a kind and helped to balance the chocolate ricotta. The chocolate ricotta was not too dry and chocolaty, and pleasant to be eaten. It was not bad but not one of the best desserts I had.

Just when we thought we were done, there came the dessert box with various assortments when we least expected it.

Again, I couldn't fully comprehend the waiter but from my best memory and taste, the middle was a champagne candy wrapped with rice wrapper, which can be eaten together. It was a little unique and has a nice taste to it. The red small bites were grapefruit candy, a little sour treat.

Next was truffle chocolate. Couldn't recall much.

By this time, we were too full to process the taste..

The left was frozen ice cream lollipops. My only impression was that the preparation was done well as they didn't melt- we waited a while to digest before eating them. The right was cream puff. 

Lastly, the receipt came in a letter format- reminded me of a hotel receipt and different from the regular typical restaurant receipt.

 

Overall, we had a good time here. Service, ambience and interior was top notch; solid appetizer, good pastas and duck breast, and pleasant desserts. Lobster, however, paled in comparison.

Is this worth of its price? Given the entire experience and other extra treats, I would say yes. Nevertheless, avoid the lobster entree at all cost.