For my birthday this year, I wanted Chris to get me something special that we could enjoy together (it’s tough buying me a good gift because I’m not into jewelry, I’d rather buy my own clothing than have another person pick it out for me, and Chris already bought me the Wii and the digital camera that I wanted). It was a little difficult coming up with a gift that I’d really enjoy, but then we started discussing the option of flying out to California and going to The French Laundry. At first, I thought it was a ridiculous gift because 1. How could Chris get a reservation for The French Laundry, 2. If somehow Chris *could* get a reservation, how would we be able to both take off work so we could fly over there? Well, two months before my birthday, Chris luckily made a reservation, booked two tickets to California, and set up the most magical birthday week for me (he actually had to see if he could get a reservation BEFORE he booked a ticket - two months beforehand is standard at The French Laundry).
If you’ve been reading this post and you’re thinking, why the heck is Grace so excited about a meal at a place that sounds like they fold laundry? Well, The French Laundry is the best restaurant in the Americas AND the 4th best restaurant in the world, plus, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience. Chris and I are both huge Thomas Keller fans (more on that later) and we’ve been to almost every restaurant (Per Se is the only one we haven’t visited….yet!). Chris and I were more than psyched for the trip to The French Laundry (there will be a ton of pictures in this post, so get ready!).
On the day of our reservation, Chris and I got up super early to prepare for the drive from our “hotel”; based off David Colker’s write up of his experience dining at The French Laundry for the LA Times, we thought it would be fun to stay at the same place he stayed at (although we had a private room). It was the worst hotel experience I’ve ever had — worse than the TWO times I was attacked by bedbugs. The hotel was a campground that was clothing optional (those of you that don’t know me that well should know that I am NOT that free-spirited but I thought it might be a good way to save money since most of the hotels in the Napa area were at least $250/night with a three night minimum). The campgrounds/hotel had mostly older guests, so seeing those people doing yoga and stretching without clothing in broad daylight is…slightly traumatizing. Anyway, we headed down to Yountville from our hotel an hour early so we could make our reservation on time. We were slightly early (our reservation was for 11:15), but it allowed us to walk around The French Laundry’s beautiful vegetable gardens (about 10% of the vegetables grown in the garden are used for the tasting menus):

There were chives, leeks, turnips and lots of other vegetables being grown in the sunny garden:

We were able to take lots of pictures beforehand, including a picture of the famous blue door:

And pictures in front of The French Laundry’s sign:

And a picture of the sitting area next to the entrance:

You’re required to dress up for your meal there (Chris had to wear a suit jacket), but the atmosphere wasn’t stuffy at all (there was a very laid-back Californian feel inside the restaurant).

We were seated in a nice alcove to the right of the main dining room, where we sat by ourselves for most of the meal. Our waiter came to greet us soon after we were seated and offered us complimentary champagne and sodas. They have the usual Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, etc., but they also have lots of interesting sodas, including lavender, rhubarb, orange, and grapefruit (I tried all four and my favorite was rhubarb). A picture of me before our culinary adventure began:

We decided to go with the chef’s tasting menu because it had a lot of variety and we probably couldn’t eat 9 courses of vegetables. As soon as we ordered, a waitress brought along these little puppies:

Little puff pastries with cheese inside - yum!

Then another waitress brought along these:

A canapé of salmon tartare with red onion crème fraîche in a savory tuile that looks just like a tiny ice cream cone - the idea actually came to Thomas Keller while he was eating an ice cream cone at Baskin Robbins! The tuile was very crispy without being hard and the salmon was very creamy.

Our first course on the tasting menu was a cauliflower “panna cotta” with Island Greek oyster glaze and California white sturgeon caviar:

The cauliflower “panna cotta” had a nice creamy texture and the flavor of the oyster glaze and caviar added a saltiness that rounded out the dish. Chris thought the caviar was too salty, but I enjoyed the dish.

Then came a little bread from Bouchon with two types of butter:

The butter on the left is from Vermont (it’s also salted) and the butter on the right is from a local farmer:

We actually ended up FINISHING the salted butter (we couldn’t believe that we consumed so much butter in one sitting but it was so creamy and smooth!).

For most of the nine courses, there were two options; to get the most out of the meal, Chris and I decided to always split up the course (he’d get one option and I’d get the other). For our second course, I ordered the salad of Hawaiian hearts of peach palm with medjool dates, vanilla “aigre-doux” and Mizuna leaves:

The medjool dates were rolled up like grapes - I was so surprised when I bit into one! The dish was very clean and fresh tasting and the vanilla added a nice sweetness to the overall taste. An interesting fact about Thomas Keller and his restaurants - he finds “micro-purveyors” and develops relationships with them to get some of his ingredients; for instance, he gets his hearts of palm from a commercial airline pilot and his lobster from a scholar that lives in Maine.

For Chris’ second course, he got the moulard duck foie gras au torchon with Royal Blenheim Apricot sauce, fennel bulb relish, watercress, and aged balsamic:

There were also three types of salt to go with the foie:

The pink salt was 35 million years old! Dinosaurs licked it before we had a chance to try it!

The foie was supposed to go on warm brioche toast:

I was taking pictures of our entire experience and the brioche toast was sitting there getting cold, so a waitress pops out from nowhere and brings us another piece of freshly toasted brioche toast. Can you believe the service?

Okay, so after we received our second course, four people came into our room and sat down at a table behind Chris. They were being really loud and obnoxious (maybe they just finished touring some wineries before they sat down for lunch?) and we were saying how we were really enjoying lunch before they sat down and caused a ruckus. We were really hoping they would somehow quiet down, but they kept cracking jokes (that weren’t funny), being rude to the waiters, and talking about how they were from Texas and how they could sell The French Laundry a bunch of wine that was sitting in their trunk. Chris mentioned how he thought it would be funny if people came into the restaurant without knowing anything about it and when they find out there are only two options on the menu (Chef’s tasting menu or vegetable tasting menu), they get up and leave. Well, that’s EXACTLY what happened with the people sitting behind us! The couples were looking at the menus and started asking the waiters if they could order anything else from the menu - at first, the waiter thought they had food allergies and said they could substitute certain items, but then one of the women from the group said that they could not finish all 9-courses (even though everyone else in the restaurant somehow finishes their meals). The waiter was very accommodating and even said he could check to see if the chef could make the tasting menu smaller, but then the group decided that they were not going to order anything and decided to WALK OUT! Can you believe that?! First of all, how did they get reservations? Second of all, if you made reservations, don’t you think you would at least PEEK at the menu?!!! I’m guessing their hotel got a reservation for them/they called the morning of and there was a cancellation. The waiter had already opened a bottle of champagne (which they drank the majority of before leaving), and the table was left empty for the majority of our lunch (each meal is about 3 hours long, so the table is reserved for that specific meal). Chris and I seriously couldn’t believe that happened right before our eyes…the waiter was incredibly nice about the entire situation and even offered to let the group stay and enjoy their champagne/make a reservation at another restaurant for them. As the group was walking out, one of the guy’s said, “well, I guess there goes my craving for an egg white omelet!” OMG SO rude!

Okay, enough of our funny story, onto our third course!

For my third course, I ordered the sautéed fillet of Atlantic black bass with Yukon gold potatoes, garlic scapes, sweet peppers, and “sauce bouillabaisse”:

This was actually my least favorite dish of the day - the bass was very fishy and it spread to the Yukon potatoes. Chris didn’t enjoy this dish, either.

For Chris’ third course, he ordered the “tartare” of Japanese Kindai tuna with globe artichokes, Spanish capers, nicoise olives, frisee lettuce, and Jidori hen egg Emulsion:

Since Chris and I both love artichokes, we thought this dish was fantastic!

One thing both Chris and I noticed was that we ate a LOT of food, but didn’t feel gross after our meal. Everything we ate was very light (even the heavier meats) and I didn’t feel greasy or gross after the three and a half hour meal.

For our fourth course, there was only one option: Maine lobster tail “pochee au beurre doux” with brooks cherries, French Laundry garden leeks, green almonds, and shaved summer truffles:

I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten shaved truffles (only truffle oils), so it was a nice treat. The French Laundry definitely takes care of the details - the cherry was in perfect condition, but when we bit down, we noticed they pitted the cherry for us!:

The lobster was really buttery and had a light, clean taste; it was a huge piece of tail that Chris and I both really enjoyed!

After our lobster tail, I had the ginger-glazed salmon creek pork belly with Akita Komachi rice, baby bok choy, and beech mushrooms:

The beech mushrooms were really fresh and chewy and the pork belly was a great piece of fat that I really loved (I ate ALL of it!).

Chris ordered the epaule de lapin farcie au ris de veau with Chanterelle mushrooms, yellow corn, and lovage “jus:”

If you don’t read French, Chris ordered the rabbit shoulder stuffed with sweetbreads with a side of mushrooms and yellow corn. The rabbit shoulder was very tender and had to be placed on a metal contraption so it could be handled:

I’ve never had sweetbreads before, but they were very…interesting. It’s not something I’d seek out at a restaurant, but it wasn’t an unpleasant taste in general.

After our first five courses, Chris and I decided to take a break and walk around the garden. We asked our waiter to stop preparing the rest of our meals for a bit while we enjoyed the sun:

I picked some flowers from the garden and pressed them so I could add them to a memory book (that I haven’t started):

There are windows behind the area Chris is standing where you can watch the chefs do amazing things:

What trip is complete without a couple jumping pictures:

After our jumping pictures, we headed to the second floor:

There are a two sets of lawn furniture so you can enjoy a wonderful afternoon (on the day we went, the temperature was around 80 degrees with a slight breeze). Look at the cute faucet decoration:

The little details in the restaurant are really beautiful - look at the lampshade in the bathrooms:

After our break, we headed back inside and were soon greeted with our next course: Elysian Fields farm “selle d’agneau rotie entiere” with Tokyo turnips, fava beans, sweet carrots, and béarnaise reduction:

The lamb was incredibly tender that and perfectly seasoned. The fava beans, turnips, and carrots were also very tender and flavorful. The béarnaise reduction was so good I almost lifted my plate up and licked it clean.

We also had more bread - I picked bread with currants:

And Chris got a piece of sourdough:

After our lamb and bread, we moved onto our cheeses (and then onto our desserts!). For our cheese course, we had the “Tomme Crayeuse” with sultana chutney, celery branch, and curry gastrique:

The sultana chutney and curry gastrique were an interesting contrast to the cheese, but the dish was light and the celery added a great texture to the smooth cheese.

To cleanse our palates, our waiter brought the gros michel banana sorbet with Andante dairy yogurt “granite” and granola:

The white flecks on the sorbet are FROZEN YOGURT! Isn’t that amazing?! The sorbet tasted like a fresh banana that was really cold (no additives or fake sweetness). The frozen yogurt was really interesting — too bad it melted so fast in my mouth!

After our palate cleanser, I ordered the “Lingot de chocolat en mouse de malt croustillante” with candied Spanish peanuts, popcorn “Glace,” and caramel:

It was The French Laundry’s interpretation of Milk Duds and popcorn and it was absolutely fantastic! It was popcorn sorbet and a brownie-type piece of chocolate that was really rich, yet incredibly light, too. Chris and I loved it!

Chris ordered the “Fraisier aux pistaches” with licorice “Bavarois,” Silverado Trail strawberry sorbet, and blis elixir:

The white acorn-type fruits were actually unripe strawberries! They weren’t sour, but didn’t carry much flavor, either. In terms of dessert, I think we both enjoyed my dessert more (it was a little more decadent).

After all of the desserts, we were presented with even MORE desserts! I received an egg custard with star anise:

And Chris got a small serving of creme brulee with Tahitian vanilla:

I enjoyed the the creme brulee more (just enough custard taste without being too thick or too watery) but I thought the egg custard tasted like an Asian grocery store (too much star anise in Chinese cooking).

We also had two pieces of biscotti with orange peel and white chocolate:

While we were enjoying our desserts, a waiter came by to serve us tea:

There was a net to catch the tea leaves - I thought it was so cute that I drank my tea as fast as possible so I could pour myself a cup:

One of the best small desserts - a macadamia nut rolled in a hard caramel and dusted with powdered sugar:

The macadamia nuts were gigantic and the hard caramel was very crunchy (I took some home to have my mom and brother sample them and they loved them, too!).

After our three and a half hour meal, the waiter showed us around the kitchen:

The kitchen is immaculate and every person works diligently on their task (as I was peeking in from outside, I saw a guy using a small melon baller to make balls out of a large carrot). A couple more kitchen shots:

There’s a webcam and a flatscreen television in The French Laundry’s kitchen and in per se’s kitchen so the chef’s can see what the other restaurant is up to (and to discuss the next day’s tasting menu).

The details in the restaurant are incredible; the waiters were all very attentive (but not overbearing) and made our meal very enjoyable. At the end of the tour, our waiter presented us with a goodie bag for the road - shortbread and chocolates:

The chocolates were all delicious (we figured they’d melt if they sat in the car all day while we were visiting wineries, so we’d just eat them right after our HUGE meal):

Our meal at The French Laundry was absolutely amazing - I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday gift!

As an added treat, during the James Beard awards, we were lucky enough to meet Thomas Keller:

I went up to him during the tasting portion of the awards show and he was really kind; he wanted to know how whether or not we enjoyed The French Laundry, what night we went to Ad Hoc, and how we enjoyed our trip to Napa. It was a great way to round out our Thomas Keller adventure!

After a day of visiting wineries, Chris and I walked around Napa and decided to go to dinner at Ad Hoc, a Thomas Keller restaurant in Yountville. The restaurant was opened in 2006 and was actually supposed to be his dream restaurant, but ad hoc became so popular that Keller decided to open his dream restaurant in another location (his dream restaurant, if you’re interested, will serve burgers and wine). I made reservations through opentable and I was really excited to try it because the chefs at the restaurant change their menu on a daily basis (based on what’s available). Ad Hoc serves different things every night (except Monday nights - they always have fried chicken, one of the most popular dishes on their menu). Their food is served family style, there are only four dishes per night, and the portions are huge.

Ad hoc:

Rustic bread from Bouchon, yet another Thomas Keller restaurant:

On the night we went, we started with the broccolini salad, which came with cerignola olives, crimini mushrooms, red onions, fra’mani salami, and sherry vinaigrette:

The next course was rack of Colorado lamb with garden pea shoots from The French Laundry’s garden, fava beans, English peas, sweet carrots, and spring garlic risotto pangrattato:

Spring garlic risotto pangrattato:

The risotto was absolutely amazing; I’ve had a lot of risotto and I used to think I didn’t like it because I grew up eating a different type of rice, but this risotto was so f-ing DELICIOUS. The pangrattato (bread crumbs) added a great crunchiness to the smooth texture of the risotto.

For our third course, we had an amazing combination of housemade granola, pink lady apples, Marshall’s farm honey, and Wisconsin sheep dairy coop mona:

The granola and honey were my favorites (the honey tasted better than any honey I’ve ever had from a squeezable bear).

Our last course were bombalocinos (little bombs in Italian) with apricot jam, valrhona chocolate sauce, and vanilla pastry cream:

The apricot jam is made in-house and was absolutely perfect (Smuckers and other jams add too much sugar instead of relying on the fruit’s natural sugar). We couldn’t get enough of the apricot jam and just ate it out of the serving jar after we finished our bombalicinos!

The dinner at Ad Hoc was a pretty great way to start our Thomas Keller tour (and a great way to celebrate Chris’ birthday!). Next time we plan a trip to Napa, we’re going to go on a Monday so we can try Ad Hoc’s amazing fried chicken! My next post will have a ton of pictures from The French Laundry, including LOTS of jumping pictures….stay tuned!

For New York’s Restaurant Week (July 16 - August 10), I headed to the 21 Club with three girlfriends to enjoy the lively atmosphere and a great meal (well, keep reading). The 21 club was once a speakeasy (which I think is pretty awesome) and now is known for their great food, award winning wine list and interesting decor:

If you look at the table in the picture, you’ll see a small picture of Steve Forbes, who dined at the table next to us. Also, it doesn’t hurt to have some of the most well-known people in New York have permanent tables at the restaurant (Donald Trump, Barbara Walters, Les Moonves, Brian Williams, George Clooney, the list goes on and on). Interestingly enough, *almost* every president since FDR has gone to the 21 club - the only exception? - George W. Bush. So, enough with the history of the club, onto the food!

The prix fix menu isn’t too bad, you can view it here. I started with the Grilled Spicy Shrimp (with apple and potato salad, micro celery, and lemon aioli):

Joyce, Charlene, Leena, and me at the table with our appetizers:

Leena ordered the Smoked Trout with fennel and cucumber salad, crème fraîche, and trout caviar dressing:

Appetizer wise, the shrimp was definitely better. It wasn’t too chewy (always a good thing) and there was a nice grilled flavor. Also, the potato salad was dressed well (not too much mayo). On the other hand, I wasn’t a fan of Leena’s smoked trout - it was way too salty, tough, and the smoky flavor was just lacking. So, if you go to the 21 club for restaurant week, don’t start with the trout :).

For our main courses, we had four options (but no one wanted chicken or fish). Leena and I both ordered the Grilled Flat Iron Steak with broccoli rabe, roasted cipollini onions, potato purée, Cabernet sauce:

The steak was cooked to a nice medium rare, but it didn’t have a fresh taste to it. I looked over at Leena and asked what she thought of it…she nicely said it was “okay,” but that’s just because Leena is too nice to say something mean. I didn’t think the steak was juicy, the cabernet sauce didn’t pair well with the steak taste, and the only two things good about the dish were the broccoli and the “potato puree,” which is a fancy way of saying MASHED POTATOES.

Joyce and Charlene both ordered the Duck Leg Confit frisée salad, wild mushrooms, toasted peanut vinaigrette:

I wish I could say something better about their dish, but it wasn’t good AT ALL. The duck was dry, there wasn’t any taste to it, and the duck SKIN wasn’t even tasty. I mean, how could something so good be ruined like that?! I was NOT a fan of the main courses at all. I’m not a fan of restaurant week in general - I mean, all of the good restaurants only offer their prix fix meal for lunch (and who has time to have a long lunch in Manhattan during the weekdays) and the restaurants that offer a prix fix dinner usually don’t offer great options. I prefer to just spend money and get a good meal out of the place, you know?

For dessert, there were four choices and all of us decided to get something different so we could switch it up:

Joyce ordered the Chocolate Marquise with chocolate shortbread and fresh raspberries:

It was rich, creamy, and delicious. No complaints from anyone at the table

Charlene ordered the Lemon Pucker Cake with summer berries and lemon cream sauce:

Out of all four of the options, this was my least favorite. The cake was sticky but not moist (possible, right?). It wasn’t BAD, just not memorable.

Leena ordered the Blueberry Tart with Passion Fruit Cream and mango coulis:

My favorite dessert of the night. Look at how many blueberries they piled onto that tart! The mango/passion fruit combination was also tart and sweet.

I ordered the Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée with orange-pecan biscotti:

Good, but not great. There was still sugar that wasn’t burnt on top (who wants to know how much sugar they’re actually consuming?!) and the actual crème brûlée wasn’t solid enough for me to fully enjoy the dessert. Shocking, I know.

Overall, the meal wasn’t memorable but the service was great and we had a great time people watching. I would like to go back to the 21 club after restaurant week and try their actual dishes because I don’t think their options did the restaurant justice. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside (since the restaurant is also known for the jockeys outside the townhouse):

If you’re going to partake in Restaurant Week, I definitely recommend going to lunch…or just save your money and splurge at the restaurant ordering off the regular menu!

How to get to The 21 Club:

The 21 Club
21 W 52nd St between 5th and 6th
New York, NY 10019
212-265-1900

On Wednesday night, my friend from college, Nick, invited me out to dinner at Jean Georges’ Nougatine Room, located in the Trump Tower and Hotel by Columbus Circle. We both decided on the tasting menu ($68/person for dinner), which allowed us to sample a little bit of everything. We started out with a treat from the chef, which was a piece of shrimp with a mint pesto on top paired with a mango soup:

And a close up of the mint and shrimp:

The shrimp was cooked JUST right - like it had just been dipped in hot water and then taken out so it wasn’t overcooked. It went really nicely with the mint pesto, which felt like you were cleaning your mouth AND eating food at the same time! The mango soup was tasty, but tasted kind of like juice…a small portion of juice. I’m not quite sure why Jean Georges thought the shrimp and the mango juice paired well together.

Next, we had a champagne mango and goat cheese salad with black olive and micro basil:

This was actually my favorite course of the night. The mangoes were sweet but not too sweet (good thinking of soaking the mangoes in champagne) and the goat cheese was so incredibly creamy it melted in your mouth. The basil was a fresh twist (I swear, I LOVE basil and I’m still working on a lemon basil sorbet) and the olives added the salt that the goat cheese was missing. It was great and also paired really well with the Riesling the waiter recommended.

After our wonderful mango and goat cheese salad, we had a foie gras brulee with muscat grape, tarragon, and ruby grapefruit salad:

One of Nick’s favorite dishes of the night. I, on the other hand, didn’t find the dish to be that special. It was too salty (especially with the burnt crust) and the grapefruit couldn’t balance out the heaviness of the foie gras. Also, the foie gras was placed on a small piece of bread, but the proportion of foie gras to bread was 2:1, which added even more salt to the dish.

The fish we had was a skate fish (it’s closely related to the stingray) with a spinach ravioli and bacon bits on top:

The fish had a nice crust on the outside and was very flaky and had a very similar texture to scallops. The ravioli was a little too plain for my taste (it didn’t need salt or anything, but the actual pasta was either overcooked or just too big compared to the filling inside).

Our final dish (before dessert) was short ribs marinated in various vinaigrettes with lima beans and a hint of lime:

The short ribs, another favorite of Nick’s, was a little too salty for me. I didn’t think the lime added a good flavor to the short ribs (the waiter said that the chef recommended we use it) and I think they marinated the short ribs in the vinaigrettes too long. There wasn’t the natural flavor from the short ribs, only a salty taste (in my opinion). Nick really enjoyed it, though.

For dessert, we had another sampling: jean-georges chocolate cake (a chocolate molten cake), vanilla ice cream with cookie crumbs, a strawberry rhubarb soup with vanilla chantilly, and a spongecake with coconut vanilla mousse with a side of passion fruit:

Jean-georges chocolate cake tasted exactly like a lava cake:

The cake was REALLY sweet (lava cakes usually are) and the vanilla ice cream with chocolate crumbs didn’t help. Nick really liked the chocolate cake (he’s a fan of all kinds of chocolate) and he also like the cookie crumbs with the vanilla ice cream (they were very similar to oreo cookies, so it was like cookies and cream ice cream!).

The spongecake with coconut vanilla mousse and passion fruit was slightly less sweet, which I preferred (even though I’m not a huge fan of coconut):

The passion fruit was just the right amount of tang that the mousse needed. I would’ve preferred a lighter spongecake (this cake was similar to spongecake but was actually cheese based). Overall, I think the tasting menu was heavier than the menu from Babbo (the original tasting menu, at least), but not better. The tasting menu was a great way to try out the restaurant’s menu, especially since the regular menu had a lot of choices that were interesting. It was great seeing Nick (I haven’t seen him in over a year!) and catching up with all the changes in Champaign and Chicago - thanks for the wonderful evening!

On Tuesday night, I was lucky enough to get a reservation for Babbo for me and Chris. I just randomly called, got through (FINALLY), and they had a last minute cancellation. Babbo is the restaurant owned by Mario Batali, and the restaurant that basically put him on the map. (He’s the chef that always wears orange crocs. The restaurant is located in the west village on Waverly Place:

We decided to go with the traditional tasting menu ($75), even though we wanted to do one traditional tasting menu and one pasta tasting menu (they require full participation from the table, so we had to pick one or the other and the desserts on the traditional tasting menu sounded better. Plus, if we ordered the pasta tasting menu, we’d have to eat 6 different types of pasta, which would’ve been too many carbs, even for me). Before we even ordered, a waiter brought by some of their chickpea bruschetta:

It was an interesting take on bruschetta. I think it tasted more like tapenade mixed with chickpeas and balsamic vinegar, but the olives were definitely pureed, not chunky (if there were olives in it).

For our appetizer, we had bresaola with fiddleheads and pecorino:

I’ve never even SEEN fiddleheads before, but apparently, they’re the top parts of the fern that hasn’t fully matured (and that’s why they appear curled). The bresaola is the air dried salted beef and the pecorino is the little pieces of cheese made with sheep’s milk. At first, I was kind of scared to try the fiddleheads - they actually looked more like snails than anything else. I wrapped the fiddlehead and the pecorino in a piece of the bresaola and took a chance…it actually tasted great! The fiddlehead was REALLY crunchy and paired well with the meat and cheese (you couldn’t really taste the fiddlehead, but when I tasted it individually, I thought it tasted very…fern like).

Next, we had pappardelle with Chanterelles and Thyme. Chris’ comment: I know what Thyme is! (It was actually Chris’ favorite dish from the night):

Pappardelle actually means “large fettuccine” and Chanterelles is a type of mushroom that tastes super meaty. At first, I thought it might be meat (when you first bite into it, it tastes like…pot roast) but then there’s the definite chewiness that you would expect from a mushroom. The pappardelle was perfect (not overcooked - made al dente without being undercooked, either) and paired well with the mushroom, thyme, and Parmesan.

Our next dish was my least favorite out of all of the dishes we tried: duck tortelli with “sugo finto”:

I couldn’t find any definitions online (not even at epicurious.com), but it was a tortelli pasta with duck on the inside and a tomato sauce. Don’t get me wrong - I am a HUGE fan of duck…but this definitely did not taste anything like duck. The duck was pureed too fine and the texture wasn’t very appealing:

Why is it so grey?! Also, the tomato sauce, in my opinion, was a little too sweet/tart. I feel like they made the tomato sauce with grape tomatoes or something. Chris enjoyed the dish more than me…it’s not that I DIDN’T like it, I just wouldn’t be placing it on a tasting menu, where you’re supposed to be showcasing your restaurant’s specialties.

The main course was the grilled lamb loin with favetta and mint pesto, my personal favorite of the night:

The lamb was really tender (look how medium rare that is), the mint pesto added a kick, and the favetta (I’m guessing that’s some sort of legume) added a crunchy texture to the dish. I thought the mint pesto was really great and would’ve been a good addition to a pasta of some sort.

After the lamb, we basically moved onto dessert…weird, right? I thought there would be more substantial dishes (only one meat dish?). We had coach farm’s finest with fennel honey next:

We were both wondering what would come out (since we didn’t know what coach farm sold to begin with). The cheese was a goat cheese with peppercorns and fennel honey, which they dished out at the table. They also brought out little baguette’s to place the cheese on (only four pieces - you had to strategically place enough honey/cheese on each piece for maximum enjoyment…something Chris didn’t know. The cheese tasted like cheese from any grocery store and didn’t seem that special (sorry, Mario).

Our next dessert was vanilla bavarese with brown butter and laurel:

(Sorry about the picture quality - it got dark and I didn’t feel like using flash so I had to fill in the light myself). Bavarese is Italian for bavarian cream - look at the vanilla beans!! I thought this dessert was really light and could have used a crust of some sort to balance it out.

The next dessert was my favorite of the night: cioccolato e aceto (what?):

The chocolate had a great sauce on it and I couldn’t figure out what it was (a tart cherry sauce mixed with dark chocolate was my best guess). I looked it up online and cioccolato e aceto translates directly to chocolate with vinegar. Genius! The tartness from the vinegar paired really well with the chocolate and the white stuff on top was a light cream that was really delicious as well.

We thought our last dessert was going to be the warm apple and walnut budino with cinnamon gelato:

but we also got this:

The warm apple and walnut budino with cinnamon gelato was a type of dessert that’s really heavy (the budino was too nutty but the cinnamon gelato was surprisingly light…even though it was really creamy). The final dessert was like an almond pudding with almond gelato and candied apricots. I didn’t care for the almond pudding (or whatever it was) but the almond gelato reminded me of the Pistachio Pistachio ice cream from Ben and Jerry’s (minus the pistachios).

The dinner took two and a half hours total (they took a long time to bring out the last dessert). We thought the dinner was good, but nothing to write home about. I guess it’s something that you need to try out once (if I went back, I wouldn’t get the pasta tasting menu - I would probably order an appetizer and then a main course, instead). The service was great, our seats were great (we sat upstairs right below the skylight), and the energy at the restaurant is very positive (if that matters at all). Afterwards, Chris was still a little hungry, so we headed to Yolato for frozen yogurt (we couldn’t help ourselves!). I didn’t think it was that great the second time around and definitely prefer Pinkberry or Forty Carrots now.

This weekend, I’m running in my first 5K! I’m doing the Revlon Run/Walk with my friend, Leo, through Central Park. I’ve never really run in my life (and I still think I’m more of a fast walker than anything), so I’m really excited about doing the 5K (even though most people can do those without training at all). After this 5K, I’m doing a 10K in mid-May (for Kidney health, I think), and then another 10K in June (for women only). I love running in central park after work (especially around the reservoir because it’s really beautiful right around 6PM). I’m also going to try to play frisbee in central park after the 5K, see spiderman, and have brunch on Sunday. I’ll be back with updates this weekend!