Il- Posto: A price fix blunder (by: Taylor)

I'm going to start this post by saying that on our first visit to Il Posto we had a great time. The location is really small, yet open and comfortable, and the food was excellent. The cured meats and cheeses were excellent, the pastas, made from scratch in-house, were cooked perfectly and all the dishes on the menu were very traditional Italian--meaning simple. light, and very fresh (no noodle dishes doused in a heavy red or white sauce--think Olive Garden . . . not that there's anything wrong with that).

For the reasons listed above, we decided to take Leah's parents to Il Posto for Valentine's Day. However, our second visit to Il Posto did not treat us as nice. The first problem was that when Leah called to make the reservation no one mentioned to her that there would be a mandatory $65 p/p 3-course price fix dinner. Ok, that's fine. But it better be good.

The food:

Some of the food was more successful than others.

The first course was a deliciously smoked, rare Albacore tuna with prosciutto powder and a pommelo gastrique, simply place beneath a grilled radicchio salad with golden beets, a soft cow's milk cheese and celery. It was small but very tasty. A pretty good starter.

The second course was more popular with some of us than others. It consisted of two separate small dishes. The first dish was a raspberry infused risotto with shaved black truffles and a drizzle of very nice olive oil. This was probably the best dish of the night. The raspberry was very light and did not distract from the dish at all. The second part of the dish was a nice, house-made pasta with a very light red sauce and seared bay scallops with sunflower sprouts. I loved it, but everyone else felt it was too fishy tasting and the noodles too al dente, so I had not problem moping up seconds and thirds.

The main course came down to 3 choices:

1. Roasted Squab
2. Braised Veal Cheeks
3. Seared Halibut

I had the squab, which I was not fond of at all. It didn't bother me that it was really gamey--which it was. But rather that it was very chewy and kind of dry. I didn't finish it. Leah's dad, Jim didn't like his squab either. Leah had the braised veal cheeks. She was not much impressed with hers either and felt the quality of the meat was poor. Leah's mom, Kathy, had the halibut and also didn't like hers much. But this was mostly because she prefers her fish to be cooked a little bit more. Leah tried it and thought it was tasty and the portion generous.

Dessert was ok, just a couple of chocolate truffles with chocolate ice cream. It was all tasty and hand-made, but unexciting at best.

In the end this meal just confirmed my theory that a price fix meal only means an over-priced, watered-down version of the meal you are likely to get when you order from the full menu. In the end, what I didn't like about our meal at Il Posto had little to do with the food not being good--although it really WASN'T very good--but had more to do with the fact that after a couple of drinks our meal came to $160 plus tip. $160 for a meal I wouldn't pay $60 for if I had my choice. Everyone who knows me knows that I would give my right arm for a meal regardless of size, style, or price, as long as it's great. I have to say Il Posto inpired nothing in me that night. I might go back, but not because it's at the top of my list, and certainly not for a price fix meal.