Ferran Adria wrote: “The difference today between home cooking and restaurant cooking is wider than it ever has been. In the old days, even as recently as when I began to cook, the amateur was nearly at the level of the professional. That’s all changed massively. Now the difference in difficulty between cooking done at home and haute cuisine is on a scale of one to a hundred.”

I love home cooking. I greatly appreciate Cathy’s food blog Not Eating Out in New York: She does some amazing, creative home cooking and on a limited budget. On the other hand, my greatest pleasure is eating out in New York. There are amazing restaurants doing things the home cook can’t (because of resources or scale or cost or time). Plus I love sitting back, enjoying company, trying new things, being waited upon and having someone else cook amazing food. And because it’s a once-in-awhile luxury (plus the fact that I know how much hard work goes into it to make it perfect and seamless), I can appreciate it even more.

There’s a secret in NYC dining that shouldn’t be a secret. It doesn’t get written up for some reason. It’s Del Posto’s Enoteca. For $45 you get five amazing courses in the same dining room where they serve $120 monk fish to rich business men and ladies who lunch. Tonight, we had things like octopus with al dente white beans and house-made orchiette with rabbit ragu and pork saltimbocca.

The dining room is amazing–reminiscent of olde timey New York. Really, this is one of those places that make you really appreciate being able to afford to eat out. If you are looking for an upscale place (three stars from NY Times!) to take your visiting parents without spending all of your rent money, then I urge you to please please please go there to eat some of the best Italian food you can get in this country. No reservations required.

Del Posto
85 10th Ave (between 15th and 16th Streets)
New York, NY 10011
212-497-8090

$45!