[Nick.Cardinali.]

Prior to the day of this tour, I walked by Del Posto when I had my initial visit to Chelsea Market in 2014, but I did not have the opportunity to tour the restaurant for myself. Also, I was already familiar with the restaurant itself because I was aware that three celebrity chefs named Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and Lidia Bastianich were the proprietors of the restaurant. Luckily, this visit to Del Posto with the Restaurant Management class managed to provide me with the opportunity that I wanted to have three years ago. Since we have been identifying and characterizing the wide variety of restaurant concepts in class, Del Posto is the perfect example that truly demonstrates the definition of a fine dining restaurant. The elegant, clean, and well-polished furniture, lighting fixtures, and décor of the dining and bar areas represented the highest order of wealth and sophistication. A dining area design of this caliber can only be cherished on special occasions. All of the front-of-the-house employees matched the elegant atmosphere as well by wearing suit-like uniforms and working in a graceful and distinguished manner. The back-of-the-house area also maintained high levels of cleanliness and sanitation. Not a single speck was found on any of the floors and tabletops in the kitchen. The service director, Thomas Radecki, and the kitchen manager, Dana Novello, managed to demonstrate the warm and comforting hospitality that Del Posto is known for by politely providing us with essential information regarding Del Posto’s daily business procedures and answering any questions that came to our mind. Both Thomas and Dana also managed to provide us with managerial and training information that we covered in class. They informed us on the ladder system of employee promotion and the skill and experience that is required to go from the rank of front server to service manager. They also provided us with helpful advice that related to starting a restaurant. Topics that were discussed in class, such as the importance of location, controlling internal food, beverage, and labor finances, and certification procedures, were mentioned in our meeting with Thomas and Dana. Overall, this visit to Del Posto was an enriching experience that managed to give all of us additional insight on the operational procedures of a New York City fine dining restaurant.
Along with this visit to Del Posto, I was given the chance to walk through Chelsea Market for the first time in three years and observe the restaurant concepts that can be found in Chelsea Market. Similar to other famous New York City tourist attractions, such as Times Square, Chelsea Market has always possessed a fast-paced and highly-congested environment that consisted of tourists and shoppers that live within the local community. Due to the constant state of this environment, the majority of restaurants in Chelsea Market are quick-service and fast-casual vendors. One example of a Chelsea Market restaurant that falls into one of these two categories is a sandwich shop that serves freshly-made Asian-style sandwiches and salads named Num Pang Sandwich Shop. However, there are some causal restaurants, such as the rustic-chic Italian restaurant named Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina, that visitors to Chelsea Market can sit down in and enjoy a relaxing and delicious meal. Despite the overwhelming amount of quick-service and fast-casual vendors, Chelsea Market’s restaurants offer freshly-made and delectable dishes from companies that are uncommonly found in the spotlight.