So I was in NYC in mid-June for (what else) more meetings. I did manage to attend some interesting business dinners, first at Jeffrey Chodorow’s Wild Salmon (NYMag review, official website) and the following night at Mario Batali’s hoity-toity venue Del Posto (NYMag review, official website). The food experience at Wild Salmon was disappointing – the set menu for our group of Interactive Advertising Bureau members didn’t offer the restaurant’s namesake fish – salmon, wild or otherwise. The Yellow Eye Rockfish with heirloom beans and lacinato kale was yummy enough, as was the Pacific Northwest nuts & berries salad. I probably ate too many of the oven roasted rosemary garlic fingerling potatoes served family style on the side, but that combo is a major weakness of mine.

The following night was a client advisory board dinner for clients of DoubleClick at Del Posto. During cocktails before dinner, folks were talking about the fact that Paul McCartney was playing a ‘secret’ gig around the corner – giving me momentary pause to consider abandoning dinner to see one of my idols. But the wine, cocktail morsels like buttery chopped liver, chunks of aged parmesan and other tidbits all helped to keep me there. The most delicious part of the dinner in the private downstairs dining room was the agnolotti dal plin with truffle butter. Really just enough for a tasting, these were divine. After fish the prior night, the sirloin with smoked polenta and vegetable sottaceto was my choice – fine, but nothing to write home about. By the time the crostata di cioccolato arrived with coffee, I was ready to pack it in and caught a cab back to midtown and my hotel. Hence I missed the group that headed out soon after and caught the last four songs of McCartney’s set. Bad choice on my part.