Chelsea + Meatpacking District – Page 3 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Del Posto

85 Tenth Avenue on 16th Street
212/497-8090
$810 for six, with a few drinks, with tip
♥ ♥

The latest from the Batali-Bastianich empire, Del Posto’s staircase, marble floors and plush seating all scream money. You walk past the valet (!) through the lobby and it’s like you’re in someone’s mansion outside of New York. Its 18,000-square-foot space is larger than any of their other New York City restaurants and showcase extravagance, if not gaudiness. The menu prices scream dollar signs, too.

The antipasto misto of cheese, olives and prosciutto cost us $66 and the bis, two pastas also divided in six servings cost us a whopping $126. My squab was too rare for my taste but I held back in telling the kitchen because the accompanying wine, Feudi Taurasi 1999, made up for it. The pork chop had just the right amount of sweetness with the figs and caramelized onion on the side and I must say that the lamb loin was very good. The cod was meaty and perfectly tender.

The food could have been from any other high-priced restaurant in the city. Nothing really stood out for me to exclaim, This is so Batali. My lamb sweetbreads were a delight and the calf’s liver–unfortunately served as a main course–were so light and tasty. But where were the lamb’s tongue and the pig trotters I’ve been hearing about? They were probably in the $100 tasting menu we passed up or maybe they were the specials our server forgot to tell us about.

But for an early 6:30pm table of six women, the service was exemplary. Our sommelier needs to be commended for helping us pick champagne (a Philipponnat) and two bottles of red wine without flinching at our budget ($60-$65 per bottle). When we started with the bubbly, we mentioned that we’re celebrating a birthday. At the end of our meal, they brought one of our desserts with a candle without us having to request it. Needless to say, the birthday girl was quite pleased.

Naka Naka

458 West 17th Street off Tenth Avenue
212/929.8544
about $400 for six plus room fee, with a few drinks, with tip
♥

When I get slow service in a restaurant, I’m usually ticked off, but for some reason I always excuse it when it comes to a Japanese restaurant. Do you do this? They’re so polite that even when they make a mistake, I find myself apologizing for them.

The menu at Naka Naka is limited; mostly familiar rolls like spicy tuna, salmon and tuna with avocado, unagi and tempura. The uni comes in both the light and the dark yellow colors and the hamachi is excellent, but without their daily specials–written on a whiteboard presented by the waitress–you’ll end up with less than five choices. Some of the appetizer dishes are tasty but unexciting: lotus root, deep fried fish, Japanese pickles and tofu. They also serve hot and cold soba and udon soups.

They didn’t replace our bowls throughout our entire meal. We awkwardly shared small dishes meant to be for one or two people because we didn’t have too many choices. It got so busy at the restaurant, we had to remind our waitress about our lotus root and fried fish orders. Getting refills for water and beer was difficult.

I’d return to Naka Naka if all I wanted was a simple Japanese experience around the neighborhood. In Meatpacking District standards, it’s a very small restaurant but still, an extra $10 per person was added to our bill for reserving the tatami room separated from the main dining bar. It’s a refuge from the zoo that is the party district, but that’s all there is to Naka Naka.

Morimoto

88 Tenth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets
212/989.8883
about $600 for four, with several drinks, with tip
♥ ♥ ♥

My first Morimoto experience in Philadelphia was unforgettable. Chef Masaharu Morimoto joined us at our table after dinner and started talking about the World Cup which was happening at the time. Four years later, soccer fans are getting ready for Germany and I was sitting yet again inside a Morimoto restaurant. I was able to score a table for four a month after its opening and I found three people willing to spend a lot of money to eat.

Tyler opted for the sashimi combination which came on a tall, albeit silly, display of ice. Cameron went for the raw bar combination with amazing scallops and delicious lobster and crab claws. Lisa opted for the black cod miso, a dish perfected by Morimoto while he was still in Nobu. The waitstaff congratulated me at the end after I finished my nine-course omakase.

Some of my favorites: a patterned maki with dashi foam, perhaps the trendiest way to making sauce after Ferran Adrià of El Bulli near Barcelona put his stamp on the technique; yellowfin tuna and mackerel served with seaweed encased in gelée; a palate cleanser of sesame powder tea that came with the coolest brush stirrer.

The service was attentive but we had a different waiter for each course. I couldn’t blame one of them when he couldn’t tell me that one of my sushi pieces was actually needlefish. (Is the east coast running out of bounty that they have to turn to needlefish?) Another missed the lychee seeds which came with one of my courses but he was nice enough to return and tell me when I expressed my curiosity.

When we were heading out of the Tadao Ando-designed space, chef Morimoto was talking to a friend by coat check. I stood right next to him while Tyler took a photograph and I quickly told him that I’m a big fan. Typical chef-fucker, I know, but I walked away with a signed copy of the menu. After five years in Philly, Morimoto has staged a very nice comeback.