After our great staycation at The Standard, Laura took me for one more birthday treat—lunch at Del Posto.

Del Posto’s $29 lunch menu has long been regarded as one of the best food deals in the city, but alas the price was finally raised to $39 on April 1—the day before my birthday, of course. But, even at $39, Del Posto’s lunch is still a great deal. You’re treated to all of the perks of an extravagant dinner while the sun is still shining outside.

We began with cocktails while I window shopped through the extensive wine list, drooling over many of the rare bottles offered.

Our server then brought out our amuse bouches—three delicious small bites, which included arancini, a chicken soup and a foie gras tramezzini.

For our first courses, I had the warm cotechino with lentil vinaigrette & dried fruit mostarda while Laura had the vitello tonnato with olive crostone, caper berries, parsley stem & lime cells.

Both were excellent and set the tone of what was to come. After our stunning meal at Recette the night before, we were feeling very, very fortunate by this point.

For our main courses, we both skipped over the pasta options, however delicious they sounded, and went straight toward the meat.

I chose a swordfish involtini with smoky cabbage and arborio salad with fondo of Barolo. Laura had the Sardinian lamb with Roman artichokes, bruised mint and saffron potatoes.

Along with my dessert—a butterscotch semifreddo with sour cherries, melon agrumata and crumbled sbrisolona—our waiter presented us with two delicious bombolini, stuffed with lemon custard, served with a birthday candle sticking out of a housemade strawberry jelly. Laura had a carrot cake, complete with dainty roasted baby carrots in a honey glaze. Just when we thought it was over, out came the box of mignardises.

With lunch finished and my birthday weekend at its close, we walked the few blocks back downtown toward our apartment, great memories in tow. We were sad for the weekend to end, but there’s always next year.

- Ryan