Del Posto and New York Restaurant Biz by Kat Gibbons, Palace Kitchen Line Cook
In late November, my mother and I were trying desperately to think of a Christmas gift to get my impossible-to-shop-for father. I was planning on coming home to New Jersey for a week in early January, and she wanted to nail down plans for our traditional “The Gibbons Take Manhattan” weekend, consisting of a Broadway show, dinner, and spending the night in a hotel. She said that if I could, I should try to get a reservation at Mario Batali’s downtown restaurant, Del Posto. I wasn’t comfortable asking my boss to call for us, but luckily, the concierge at our hotel was able to get a table.
We got to the restaurant at around six, and it was almost empty. We were promptly seated and ordered our drinks. I had a blood orange bellini which was so delicious I wished I could have ordered it in a size similar to a Big Gulp. The service was fantastic. Our server was knowledgeable and prompt but not obnoxious. I was facing the entire dining room, a room that had beautiful light and dark accents, and I noticed that it was not filling up as I expected. I thought: the service is amazing, the food is great, but why isn’t anyone here? We left around 9 or so, an hour at which most restaurants would be busy, but although there were many occupied tables, it still didn’t make sense to me why it was so difficult to get a reservation.
Cut to a month later in Seattle:
I get an email from my father, a New York Times article featuring a photograph of Mario Batali alongside Sirio Maccioni and Jean-Georges Vongerichten has been sent to me, and the article talks about how Manhattan restaurants have been opening their arms and their doors wider and wider in the midst of this recession. Even Tom mentioned the article while talking about how the current economy affects not only our restaurants, but the restaurant industry in general. Places that used to be impossible to get into now have more and more tables available with lower priced tasting menus and cheaper prices as well as much less attitude.
The New York Times article plus my personal experience at Del Posto was a real eye opener in the regard that even top restaurants with top chefs in top cities are being affected by the current state of the economy. It makes you wonder what the scenario will be when the economy picks up. Will the big name restaurateurs still be feeling warm and fuzzy, or will the doors close, will the special deals dissipate, and will the phone once again go unanswered?
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