Chef Mark Ladner – The Unassuming Hero of Del Posto’s Kitchen

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There are Italian restaurants – and there are Italian restaurants. Del Posto falls on the latter kind. This is one of Mario Batali’s restaurants. With its inclusion in El Pellegrino World’s 100 Best Restaurants list, this is officially Batali-Bastianich second restaurant that made the list. Their other restaurant, Babbo, ranks 90 in the list. Of course, Mario Batali doesn’t deserve all the credit for the success of Del Posto. Truth be told, it is Mark Ladner, former chef of Lupa and the dubbed “Clark Kent of the Kitchen”, who deserves the credit for Del Posto’s success.

This restaurant offers a convergence of different Italian cooking style. In truth, the restaurant’s cuisine embraces all kinds of generation style of cooking. The menu comprises of traditional dishes and modern Italian dishes as well. Without creating stilted ambiance, the restaurant complements the food with buoyant and light atmosphere in adherence to the genuine Italian spirit. As mentioned, the credit can be given to Chef Mark Ladner as well.

Mark Ladner is not new to the Batali Empire. He is actually a protégé of the great chef himself. He used to work chef jobs at Lupa and Otto as well. In fact, he is a partner of Batali in the two latter restaurants. Of course, he is a fairly experience chef. He worked at Olives in Boston under Todd English. Thereafter, he moved to New York where he worked at Scott Bryan and Jean Georges Vongeritchen. When Batali among others, opened up Babbo, Chef Mark Ladner applied as a sous chef and got the chef job. It was during this time that he opened Lupa and Otto with Batali. Few people have heard of Mark Ladner. An unassuming guy, he is perfectly contented working in the kitchens of Del Posto. In truth, he is one of the few culinary geniuses in New York.

Chef Ladner offers rustic Italian cooking using locally-grown ingredients. If you have tried out other Batali-Bastianich restaurants and have found them lacking, then you haven’t tried Ladner’s dishes at Del Posto. Unless you have, it is a bit early for you to give up on Batali-Bastianich restaurants. This rangy, nerdy-looking chef with huge eyeglasses is far from being glamorous. He is exactly the opposite of Batali, a celebrity chef. No, he is definitely not a celebrity chef, but he certainly knows how to tickle his diner’s palates. He may be invisible to some; but with his cooking, it’s doubtful if he’d stay invisible for long.

Chef Mark Ladner’s Pork Chop with Prosciutto, Parmigiano and Balsamico Recipe

Recipe via Star Chefs

Yield: 8 Servings

Ingredients:

1 (5-pound) bone-in pork loin, frenched

1 gallon fresh cow’s milk whey

8 slices Prosciutto di Parma, 24 month aged

8 spring onions, cut in half lengthwise

1 cup aceto balsamico

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano, 24 month aged

Kosher salt

Black pepper

2 bunches broccoli rabe

Methods:

For the Pork:
Preheat CVap® to 150˚F, and preheat a grill. Liberally season the pork loin with salt and pepper, transfer to a hotel pan and cover with whey. Place in the CVAP® for 2 ½ hours, or until it reaches an internal temperature of 140˚F. Baste periodically. Remove the loin from the oven and cut into 8 chop portions. Reseason each chop with salt and pepper, and loosely wrap each bone with a slice of prosciutto. Place each chop briefly on the grill warming through.

For the Onion:

Preheat a convection oven to 450˚F. Place the onions in a cold sauté pan and season with salt and pepper. Add the aceto balsamico, extra-virgin olive oil and 1 cup of water. Transfer to the oven and cook until the onions are completely tender and the skins are blistered and blackened. Discard the skins and reserve the cooking liquid for garnish.

For the Parmigiano Reggiano:

Place the Parmigiano in a robocoupe or food processor and pulse until pebble-size pieces form. Transfer the pieces to a dehydrator. Set to 140˚F and cook for 24 hours. Cool and mix with 20% of its volume in coarse salt.

For the Broccoli Rabe:

Preheat a griddle or plancha. Cut 1.5” long batons of broccoli rabe. Season with salt, pepper, and extra-virgin olive oil and char on the plancha.

To Assemble and Serve:

Place one grilled pork chop on a plate with 3 pieces of broccoli rabe and half of a spring onion. Sprinkle the eye of the chop liberally with the dried parmigiano mix and drizzle the plate with a tablespoon of the onion liquid.

Video Results:

Lupa, New York, NY

Lupa restaurant in Greenwich Village

Image Credit Agency B

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