Holiday 2022: Enjoy Five Courses Of Rare White Truffles For A Cool $3,000 At This NYC Restaurant

Of course, the eye-popping white truffle tasting menu this holiday season at Il Gradino in Manhattan starts with a cocktail. Maybe a White Truffle Martini, made with vodka, vermouth, white truffle oil and topped with white truffle shavings. Prefer something sweet? How about a Truffle Sour with vodka, amaro, white truffle oil, lemon, sugar, egg white, and a white truffle garnish. I’m usually not a vodka gal at all, but I can see where that flavorless spirit might be the best choice to elevate what is a very rare item indeed.

A shaving in a cocktail is probably one or two grams, so at the going rate of $4,000 a pound for Italian white truffles in bulk, according to the truffle experts at Sabatino, that could be $24 worth of precious tuber alone. But it might be even more. Owner Diego Argudo intends to be on the generous side with shavings of the rare jewel over the course of the restaurant’s Truffleicious Dinner, a $3,000 per person five-course extravaganza available through New Year’s Eve, alongside the restaurant’s regular menu.

“I shave the truffles personally for the cocktails, and for each course,” says Argudo, a veteran of several of Manhattan’s top Italian restaurants before opening Il Gradino in late May 2022. “I will make people happy with the portions. That’s what I do when anyone orders white truffles for any dish—I make sure they’re happy with the amount I serve them.”

Available nightly through New Year’s Eve, the extravagant $3,000 per person meal begins with that truffle cocktail, followed by five Italian classic dishes considered among the best companions to the October-through-December-only seasonal ingredient. The dinner will be accompanied by two of Italy’s most iconic wines, including a bottle of Dal Forno Romano Amarone Della Valpolicella 2015.

Argudo has been shaving truffles at Il Gradino since the start of the truffle season, and says he’s gone through about six pounds on various specials, with diners ordering them on everything. “The holiday season is back to ‘normal’ first the first time since 2019 and people are very much into celebrating it in high style,” he explains. “They’re indulging in high ticket luxe items – ultra premium spirits and very fine wines in addition to white truffles — seemingly unconcerned about recession predictions.”

After that cocktail, diners will enjoy endless glasses of Franciacorta sparkling wine, made by the Champanoise method (unlike Negroni Sbagliato star Prosecco), alongside the starter, a white truffle laden Stracciatella house-steeped stock, Parmigiano Reggiano, eggs. The soup will be followed by Carpaccio di Fillet Mignon, thinly sliced raw filet mignon, artichokes, arugula, shaved Parmesan and white truffles, with that Amarone or Franciacorta — or both.

The pasta course is a choice between house-made veal ravioli in light cream sauce or pappardelle in light cream sauce, both crowned with white truffle, accompanied by the Amarone and/or the Franciacorta, Diners will then have a choice of house-butchered Rack of Veal Chop, pounded, with truffle sauce and white truffle shavings or Sea Salt Roasted White Truffle Branzino, with white truffle oil and white truffle garnish, complemented by Amarone. There’s even truffle in the dessert: a Truffled Sundae with vanilla gelato, house made Italian chocolate sauce, and white truffle shavings with more Franciacorta.

Cap off your one-of-a-kind “white gold” fragrant fungi -focused experience with a shot of Argudo’s homemade limoncello, unadorned by white truffles… unless you request it.

“I’ve been shaving white truffles every season for 30 years and I know how much people look forward to their brief window of availability,” Argudo says. “ The white truffle portions we’ve offered for any dish since October have been selling like crazy. I thought we could make our first holiday season especially memorable by offering a truffle dinner menu, in addition to our regular a la carte one.”

Il Grading’s five-course Truffleicious Dinner will be available, as well as the restaurant’s regular menu and signature plethora of daily specials, Saturday, Dec. 24 through Saturday, Dec. 31 from 5 to 11 p.m. for $3,000 per person, including tax and gratuity. Il Gradino is located at 808 Lexington Ave., between 62nd and 63rd Streets. For Truffleicious Dinner reservations, call 646-649-3289 and let them know you want all the truffles.