Word: batali
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...Batali, who has a history of predicting exactly what New York City wants to consume-he has helped devise and open eight successful Manhattan eateries in the last 13 years-had precisely predicted the operatic events surrounding the opening of his latest, Del Posto. Situated in the ridiculously trendy Meatpacking District, Del Posto occupies one of the grandest restaurant spaces in the city, where even four-star places usually use opulence to hide their cramped dimensions (expensive, feathery Riedel wine goblets break if you brush them with a fingernail, but they do keep one's focus on the table...
...Posto is both cavernous and opulent; it cost something like $12 million. But since it began serving meals in December, the place has been threatened by jaded Manhattanites skeptical of the valet parking (real New Yorkers walk), by restaurant critics who seem eager to see Batali finally stumble and by its own landlord, who is trying to close the place and evict its owners. I haven't even gotten to the part where the Hudson River flooded Del Posto, but the point is, this is a lot more fun than Don Giovanni...
...Batali and the other Del Posto principals-legendary impresario of Italian cuisine Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (host of the PBS cooking shows that bear her name) and her son Joseph, Batali's longtime partner and a winemaker-had never attempted something quite so spectacular as Del Posto. They knew they needed media attention, and they allowed a Food Network crew to visit the building site repeatedly. According to the show that resulted-Mario, FULL BOIL which aired February 18-construction was delayed interminably because engineers trying to lay the restaurant's foundation dug themselves into the Hudson River. Water soaked...
...year ago (see The Matron Saint of Pasta and Risotto con Aragosta), she told me Del Posto would be open by summer 2005. Then it was October, then November, and on and on. At some point I stopped asking; the tension over construction costs and delays was obvious. Batali has a staggering array of national ventures to push this year-a partnership with NASCAR (for whom Batali has written a tailgating cookbook, to be published in April), his lines of cookware and packaged foods, three (three!) new restaurants in Las Vegas, another in Los Angeles-and Del Posto needed...
...landlord has also claimed the restaurant lacked all its city permits. The spat seems a bit overblown-permitting delays?-but the New York Post reported last week that billionaire financier Henry Kravis, a Del Posto investor, is trying to negotiate a settlement with the landlord. For their part, Batali and Joseph Bastianich have told reporters they hope to be at their corner of 16th Street and Tenth Avenue for the duration of their 25-year lease. "I'm sure we'll figure it out amicably," Batali told me Saturday, sounding very ready for his trip to Barbados with his chefs...