On the heels of the success they maintained through the challenge of the Pandemic, the owners of Crown Shy in the Financial District have announced plans to take over the recently shuttered Del Posto.
Jeff Katz and James Kent have teamed with chef Melissa Rodriguez to purchase the Del Posto space in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood from B & B Hospitality Group, with plans to fill it with three new concepts this fall. In addition to their collaboration at Crown Shy, Jeff Katz, who was Del Posto’s longtime GM, and Chef James Kent built an extensive following at Eleven Madison Park.
Since debuting in 2005, Del Posto had been known as one of the top Italian restaurants in the country. Rodriguez was named executive chef in 2017, further cementing the restaurant’s reputation during her tenure. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, one of Melissa Rodriguez’s first jobs was cooking under chef Cornelius Gallagher at Oceana. She then worked her way up to the position of sous chef at Daniel. In 2011, Rodriguez joined the team at Del Posto, working her way up to chef de cuisine in 2015, and then executive chef in February 2017 after Mark Ladner left to work on his fast-casual concept, Pasta Flyer.
Though the closure just became official, Del Posto stopped service in the spring of 2020 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic before auctioning off its 40,000-bottle wine collection at Chicago’s Hart Davis Hart Wine Co.
However, before any new restaurant gets designed within the property, “everything must go” from the dining room. The new owners of the Chelsea property are selling off Del Posto’s front-of-house furniture, fixtures, decor, and you can make bids for items either online at BestBuyAuctioneers.Hibid.Com or in-person at the restaurant for a “true
auction experience.”
In 2010, Del Posto earned a rare four-star review from the New York Times, however in recent years, its former ownership, the Bastianich family’s B&B Hospitality Group, has been repeatedly accused of fostering a toxic workplace. Additionally, former co-owner and celebrity chef Mario Batali removed himself from ownership in 2019 after being accused of sexual assault and harassment by at least 18 women. Del Posto never reopened after closing its doors during the coronavirus citywide shut down last March.
