Del Posto

Our final stop during Restaurant Week was Del Posto, Mario Batali’s haute Italian restaurant near the Meatpacking District. Batali and Joe Bastianich are trying their damndest to get Italian cooking taken as seriously as French, and nowhere more so than here. There are fabric-covered walls, suits on everyone, a sweeping staircase to more intimate second-floor dining area, and more marble than you're likely to see in another restaurant. There are even purse stools for ladies who cannot think of what else to do with their handbags. Though it's in the Meatpacking District--ugh--you can’t say the place isn’t lovely.

Right off, the sommelier came over to talk about what wines we wanted to order, a lovely touch during a week when many restaurants skimp on the extras. They offered a three-wine pairing with the meal, but we decided to order from the regular list, and after talking about what we like, he gave us very good recommendations—an astonishingly crisp Gavi di Gavi and a soft and sweet Nero d’Avola.

For our first course, we had an insalata di pomodoro with mint, onions, and a mozzarella crème and a minestrone freddo with pesto and aborio rice. The minestrone was good and cool and the salad was terrific, with a mix of heirloom tomatoes that gave it a lot of flavor. Our main courses were salmon with fagioli and a roasted pork loin with charred onions, both great, the salmon particularly so. Desserts were a so-so ricotta cheesecake and a chocolate budino that was much better once you got past the extremely acidic milk foam on top. Del Posto normally charges ambitious prices, so even though we didn't love everything about it, this was still a very good meal that felt like a steal, and a nice finish to a great week.

Photo: thanks