After Dinner

Allow me to preface this by saying that I spent most of Thursday completely lethargic and sick at the thought of putting more food in my body. I had 3 tiny pieces of orange bread for breakfast (followed by 2 hours of agony) and then a bagel with cream cheese and a yogurt for dinner. Today I finally feel like I can look back and think fondly about food. So for anyone out there wanting to dine vicariously through us, this post's for you!


The Boss allowed Scott and I to split my free wine pairing, so we each got about 2 ounces of wine with each course. This was great, because I left with a buzz after drinking what I was given (and barely touched the wine that came with my entree), and Scott, who claims to not like wine (and in fact claimed to be allergic to wine when we started dating), really got his first chance to see what a good pairing can do for both the food and the wine.

Below is a ridiculously complete summary of our dinner. The bold indicates the menu item and the italics represent the paired wine. I'll reference wines where necessary, but since I don't know a whole lot about wines, there's not much I can intelligently add. Also, I am pleased to welcome my guest host, Mr. ParkHopper, whose opinions will be in blue, while mine will be in purple.


The meal starts with the Amuse Bouche - a small pre-appetizer sent by the Chef to set the tone for your evening. In our case, we got the super-fancy pre-app generally reserved for guests at the Chef's Table. It included:
Deviled Quail Egg with Iranian Osetra Caviar,
Sesame Seared Yellow Fin Tuna with Hijiki Salad,
Kurobuta Pork Belly with Cherry Jus, and
Butternut Squash Cream Soup.

This, I believe, was one of the most awesome presentations I have ever seen. Jamie asked me at the time to name my favorite item. I told her then, and I will say it again now, that I can not. It was all just amazing.

Of course, both of us loved the tuna, we are both fans of seared tuna, and this was no disappointment.

If I HAD to pick a least favorite, it would be the quail egg. It’s not that it wasn’t spectacular, to the contrary, the presentation of this particular one out of the four was my favorite, with four drops of crème fraiche surrounding the egg, with a small dollop of caviar on top of the egg itself. But when accompanied by the others, it was simply overshadowed by greatness.

For those of you who don’t know, I do not enjoy butternut squash soup in the least. It is a sweet hot soup. If a soup is sweet, it should also be chilled, such as strawberry soup, or melon. This, however, was amazing. It was rich, and flavorful, and the sweetness was mellowed by the use of spices.

And the pork belly… wow. Jamie had told me how good this was when she had been given a sample once when she first started working there. It… was… great. I know it was just an amuse, but I wanted more! The cherry jus that went along with it was the perfect flavor enhancer, playing it’s sweetness off of the pork’s slight saltiness.

Had I not had tuna sushi the day before, the tuna may have been my favorite. But oh boy, is pork belly tasty. And what meat wouldn't be improved with a big ol' cherry on top? mmm... Osetra, by the way, is some of the best caviar on Earth. The Restaurant offers it as a separate up-charge for $125 per 1/2 oz.

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Cold Appetizer:

Seared Colorado Buffalo Tenderloin, Braised Fennel, Radishes and Satsuma Tangerine Vinaigrette
Cantina Del Taburno Falanghina, Campania 2005
Again, the presentation was awesome, with three medallions of perfectly cooked buffalo tenderloin with wonderful tangerine vinaigrette. The wine that accompanied this dish, contrary to what you may assume, was a white. It was explained that it was decided by the sommelier, and it was a wonderful choice in my opinion, to pair this dish with a white instead of a red because of the tangerine vinaigrette. The wine picked up the citrus notes of the dish wonderfully.
Prosciutto Wrapped Gulf Shrimp with Melon Coulis and Arugula
Greenhough Dry Riesling, Nelson New Zealand 2004
I absolutely loved the presentation of the shrimp. The coulis on the bottom was so beautiful - a circle of canteloupe color and a circle of honeydew color to draw your eye to the shrimp in the center. So what happens when you wrap a shrimp in a piece of ham and pair it with some cold melon goo? It's delicious, of course! I prefer the buffalo, but wanted to not get the same items as Scott, and also wanted to try items that I hadn't gotten as kitchen hand-outs before.

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Hot Appetizer:

New Zealand Elk with Elephant Garlic Spaёtzle and Veal Sweetbreads
Pérez Cruz Reserva Carmenere, Maipo Valley 2004
Again, this was a great dish. Surprisingly, the sweetbreads, the one thing I was concerned with about this dish, was possibly my favorite item. Sweet and light, it was amazing. The spaetzle, being made with elephant garlic, was very good. Most people may not realize that elephant garlic, due to its size, has a very mild garlic taste, so the spaetzle was not overpowering at all.
Pan Roasted Foie Gras and Fuji Apple Tart with Mostarda di Cremona
Royal Tokaji Azsú 5 Puttonyos, Mád Tokaj-Hegyalja 2000 or
Château d’Yquem, Sauternes 2001 $140.00 (3 oz. pour)
The foie gras is another up-charge on the menu. It's $15, and was possibly the best $15 I ever spent. This is our Chef's signature dish. And when you walk into a 5-diamond restaurant and they tell you this is the best thing on the menu, you order it! It's really hard for me to intelligently describe the flavor of the foie, except to say that it tastes like really delicious fat. Not the most appetizing description, I know. Honestly though, every bite just melted in my mouth. The apple tart on the bottom was actually savory, made with practically no sugar, and provided a balance of texture to the creaminess of the foie.

I also wanted to mention the wines here. The Tokaji (pronounced toke-I) is the regular pairing wine, while the Chateau d'Yquem is yet another up-charge. Well, The Boss hooked me up with maybe 1 oz. of the latter and right now, two days later, I can still close my eyes and smell and taste it. The smell on its own was WAY overpowering, but paired with the intensity of the foie gras, it was superb. I drank every drop of both of the wines I was served in this course.

For me, this was the highlight of the meal.

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Seafood Course:

King Salmon with Bamboo Rice Blend, Sauce Soubise and Ramps
Joseph Drouhin Pouilly-Fuissé, Burgundy 2006
After the foie gras, anything would have been a disappointment. And this was probably my least favorite dish. But allow me to temper that with the fact that salmon is one of my least favorite fish, but I have already had the other seafood option and was still on my "try new things" kick. And this really was the best salmon I've ever had. The rice blend was absolutely delicious. The best parts of this dish aren't even mentioned on the menu. There is a small piece of "salmon bacon" (which I'd love with some scrambled eggs!) and some salmon roe served on top of the fish. Aside from the 5 or 6 tiny eggs on top of the quail egg, this is probably my first real experience with any type of caviar. And that roe was amazing. Every egg popped in my mouth and I can't even describe the taste - I just know that it wasn't salty or fishy. The down side: salmon roe look an awful lot like poor Nemo's 4,000 brothers and sisters that were eaten by the barracuda at the beginning of Finding Nemo!
Crab Stuffed Tempura Squash Bloom with Grape Must Mustard
Sella & Mosca La Cala Vermentino, Sardegna 2004
This was one of the first samples I ever got from my better half. On the night that occurred, she tried to ask me what I thought of it, but I simply put my hand up, closed my eyes, and delighted at the taste of this. It was cold, as she had saved it for me in her lunch container, but it was awesome. It was absolutely amazing though when hot (shocking, I know). The tempura batter was light and crunchy, with hardly any oil left on it at all. And the sauce, sweet, yet with the slightest undertones of mustard, was amazing.

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Entree:

Herb Crusted Lamb with Heirloom Tomatoes and Potato Gnocchi
Cesari “Mara” Vino Di Ripasso Valpolicella 2004
I thought I had a moral problem with eating lamb (like veal) and would never be able to get over the image of bah bah black sheep being just too cute to eat. Then our Sous Chef handed me a piece one night and I ate and loved it before I found out what it was. Since then, I have tried lamb on two separate occasions outside The Restaurant and absolutely hated it! It was gamey and tough and really not palatable at all. Lamb also seems to be the thing that I am most often handed an end piece of when I am walking through the kitchen. So I couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the whole dish complete with sauce and gnocchi. And you know what? I really loved it. The herb crust had a lot of parsley in it, and gave great color balance to offset the red of the tomato/lamb jus and the pink of the meat. The gnocchi were superb, and the meat itself absolutely lived up to my former tastes (although it's a totally different experience eating it sitting down with a knife and fork rather than with my fingers while standing in the kitchen!).
Japanese “Kobe” Strip Loin with Oxtail Jus and Cauliflower Purée
Château Cantemerle, Haut-Medoc 2003

The Japanese Kobe is an $80 up-charge on the menu. Before he knew how much it would cost, Scott had proclaimed that he wouldn't settle for anything less. He's spent countless hours watching the original Iron Chef, and knows enough about food to know that there's nothing better. At The Restaurant, he balked at the price, but I had already budgeted for it. Watching him eat this little piece of steak was so nice for me. He even let me try a piece, but that was his moment - a culinary experience that he'll probably remember forever - and I was happy to be there with him for it.

That’s right, $80. I know you are shaking your head with disbelief at this one, but I have no regrets whatsoever. This is the most amazing thing I have ever eaten in my entire life. For those of you who don’t know, Japanese Kobe cattle are fed beer, and massaged with sake. The fat content is insane on these steaks. When properly prepared, the steak will literally almost melt in your mouth. This was prepared properly. A small portion of the loin, sliced into five slices prepared to the chef’s recommendation, lasted me forever. I have never chewed an item so slowly, enjoying every small bite. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the dish, which included a small cast iron pot with a puree of cauliflower, topped with the meat of the short ribs, was wonderful. The sauce that accompanied the meat, which had been reduced over a three day period, was splendid. But the Kobe was amazing. It’s one of those items that, when asked about, you can’t speak of it, it is so insanely good. You have to try it to understand.

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Cheese Course:

Comté Saint Antoine, Fourme D’Ambert, and Pierre Robert
Cockburn’s 10 Year Old Tawny Porto
Three pieces of stinky cheese. A blue cheese, a hard cheese, and a soft cheese. Keep in mind that I. do. not. like. stinky cheeses. Muenster is the most exotic I can handle, and even then only melted in grilled cheese! But when in Rome... I found out something interesting about cheese: it tastes really good with port. Port, as you can imagine, tastes better with cheese than by itself. Amazingly enough, the blue cheese ended up being my favorite. Scott really liked the soft vomit-flavored one. The hard cheese was also palateable. The cheeses are served with some other stuff - an apricot chutney, some hard brown thing that I didn't even taste, a fig, and candied (I think) hazelnuts.
Tropical Fruit Gelato with Micro Mint
Michele Chiarlo “Nivole” Moscato D’Asti, Piedmont 2005

Good stuff. We couldn’t determine what the predominate “tropical” was, but it was still awesome.

Scott proclaimed after one taste of the "Nivole" that we should buy a case of it. It's a sweet sparkling wine, and tasted great even alone.

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Chocolate Course: (another generally reserved for the Chef's Table)

Miniature Chocolate Pyramid, Hawaiian Kona Chocolate Soufflé and Orange Chocolate Napoleon
Mmm...chocolate... I asked the server when the plate was presented which was the best. He said hands-down it would be the Napoleon. So I started on the left with the Pyramid and tasted them in that direction. The Pyramid is made of Tanzanie chocolate mousse, and topped with a tiny piece of gold leaf. It was delicious, but of the items on the plate, it was definitely the one that tasted most like something you could find at another restaurant.

This is why everyone thinks Soufflés are good. I have never had a souflé that I was impressed with until this one. Absolutely amazing. And the Godiva anglaise sauce poured on top was just absolutely heaven on a spoon. The server left it with us, should we decide to pour it all over the rest of the chocolate items or "drink it with a straw." We didn't, but it is some good stuff!

Suprisingly, even though this was made with dark chocolate, I really liked the Napoleon. The preserved orange rind on the top was a nice and tasty garnish. Dark chocolate with citrus is one of my favorite dessert combinations. Had I not been so pleasantly surprised with the soufflé, it probably would have been my favorite.


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Dessert:

Caramelized Banana Gâteau
I have never had a gateau prior to this. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I pretty much ordered it because it had the words caramelized and banana in it. It was pretty tasty. Gateau is the French word for cake. That's a pretty ironic title for the dessert, considering it only has a tiny disc of cake at the bottom. The rest is layers of mascarpone cheese and bananas. The servers both mentioned that this is their favorite dessert. I only had one bite of it myself, not really enough to form an opinion.

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée
Crème Brûlée is my favorite dessert. How could I not order it? This particular version is made with Madagascar vanilla, and is served less than 1/2" thick so that there is more surface area to caramelize. AND it's served with an enormous "wall" of caramelized sugar around 1/2 of the bowl. Oh, it was heavenly. And had I not needed to finish every last bite of it, I probably wouldn't have felt the way I did for the rest of the night and all day yesterday.

So that's it. We hope you have enjoyed dining vicariously through us. We had the experience of a lifetime. And although we only focused on the food here, I can't say enough about the rest of the dining experience. The Boss (also known as Maitre d') came by for 2 or 3 courses to explain why he paired the wines with specific menu items, and stayed completely "in character" with us until the last of the real guests left the restaurant. I think both Scott and I appreciated the extra knowledge and really learned something new. Our two servers were wonderful. Guy server is my favorite one of all of them, and it was great to get to see him in his element. He did a really good job of putting Scott at ease, which is an impressive feat in such an intimidating surrounding (and in a tie!). Girl server is another one of my favorites. She was having a really bad day personally, but didn't let that slip out at all except when I asked her a personal question. And I probably don't even need to mention just how great the kitchen staff is. But I will: our kitchen ROCKS!

It's been hard readjusting to "common life." And it will probably be even harder to not compare our dinner with our next evening out at Carrabba's or Cracker Barrell. We've been spoiled forever!