good dining: a contrast
We've recently had two very contrasting, but both good dining experiences.
Last night we ate at L'Etoile for the first time (we splurged for our 2 1/2 years of dating). It reminded me very much of the experience I had at Harvest. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We made reservations (recommended) and they asked if there was anything to note, such as dietary restrictions, special occasion, etc. I told them we were vegetarian. When we arrived, the first thing our waiter commented on was that he understood we were vegetarian and confirmed the specifics of our restrictions, including asking about broths. We didn't have to ask once about the details of our food because we already knew that he was going to make sure with the chef that our food would meet our requirements. That was awesome.
Our waiter seemed slightly taken aback when told that we would be sharing/splitting everything, but did a good job of hiding it as best he could and working with it. We started with a non-alcoholic drink (they have a section of them! I'd like to try more of them; they look interesting/unique) called a swizzle stick. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it was good. We ordered a plate of 3 cheeses, after discussing some of them with the waiter. We ordered Hook's 15 year cheedar, Capri's Something-or-Other-Special Gouda (goat cheese), and Crave Brother's Petit Frere. Apparently the Petit Frere ages quickly and has distinctly different strength/pungence based on how recently the order was placed. As it was recent, it was milder, so they added another cheese to our plate, called Earth Schmier (which we had also discussed as a possibility). I forget who makes the Earth Schmear (Bleu Mont does). They serve the cheese plates with aprocot walnut bread, moonglow pear and orange cox pippin apple slices. The cheddar was surprisingly creamy and smooth for the age. It was crumbly, but so creamy tasting! It went well with the apples. The Earth Schmier was lovely with the bread. It is better with a pairing, to counter the middle ammonia bit, but all the other flavors of the cheese were earthy or nutty; it started and finished well, with only a subtle ammonia in the middle. The gouda was interesting. It was good with the fruit or by itself. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it made sense when you think about it being a goat cheese. The Petit Frere was very mild, but nice. It would be very good with honey and walnuts.
Before the cheese plate came out, there were fresh crackers with herbed cheese and a nut (I forgot which kind). Then there were rolls and butter, along with a taste of the sunchoke soup topped with truffle oil. I'll be making a soup with truffle oil this week... I may have to try playing with sunchokes, myself. This section of tastes was part of dining there; every table was served them.
For our entree, we shared the beet ravioli. It was fantastic. The portion was a little small for sharing, but at the price of $29, we sure weren't getting one each! Having seen the price of one of the components at market, though, I understand the pricing of the plate. Crosnes were very pricey at market and there was a small handful of them in the dish. Probably about $10 worth of those alone. The combination of flavors was wonderful. I'll be playing with a broccoli/beet/walnut pasta dish in the future, to see if I can come up with a layman's pocketbook friendly version.
We tried the Dark Chocolate Cake topped with Brûléed Bananas, served with a Valrhona Chocolate Truffle and Coconut Sabayon. Wow. The bannanas really made it, but wow. Perfect in every bite.
We'll probably go back for deserts some time; there are several others we'd like to try. We are unlikely to return for dinner. I'm glad we did, and the experience was great, but it isn't nice on the wallet and we left still hungry. However, we got to try a bunch of new flavors and it has me thinking about some cooking ideas, so I think it was worthwhile. We did feel a little out of place though; like we were uncultured. I'm sure everyone else there was much better off financially than we are. Possibly even the waiters. And we're doing ok. Either that or they're all up to their heads in debt and a couple hundred on food won't make a difference. (We didn't spend that much, but they sure did!)
Last weekend we ate at Saffron. We had intended to eat elsewhere, but they had no food at our first stop that wasn't deadly. We had passed Saffron on the way, so we stopped in to check it out. It was possibly the best dining experience we've had in recent memory, both for service and food. The food was fantastic. Everything was wonderful, and everyone was happy with it. They didn't have any veggie items in the buffet without ginger, and actually didn't make anything without ginger, but they offered to make me a meal without ginger. I got to pick out whatever I wanted off the menu and they prepared all their spice mixes fresh for me. The dish was wonderfully tasty. The whole time they were apologetic about not having something that I could eat. Then when they brought out the bill, they only charged us half-price of the buffet for my specially prepared meal that fed me for 3 rounds of leftovers! We couldn't believe it! That was half what they said it would be originally! We left a very good tip. We will definitely be returning there and encourage others to patronize their business. Based on the wall full of awards and articles, we aren't the only ones who've had good experiences there, either.
Last night we ate at L'Etoile for the first time (we splurged for our 2 1/2 years of dating). It reminded me very much of the experience I had at Harvest. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We made reservations (recommended) and they asked if there was anything to note, such as dietary restrictions, special occasion, etc. I told them we were vegetarian. When we arrived, the first thing our waiter commented on was that he understood we were vegetarian and confirmed the specifics of our restrictions, including asking about broths. We didn't have to ask once about the details of our food because we already knew that he was going to make sure with the chef that our food would meet our requirements. That was awesome.
Our waiter seemed slightly taken aback when told that we would be sharing/splitting everything, but did a good job of hiding it as best he could and working with it. We started with a non-alcoholic drink (they have a section of them! I'd like to try more of them; they look interesting/unique) called a swizzle stick. I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it was good. We ordered a plate of 3 cheeses, after discussing some of them with the waiter. We ordered Hook's 15 year cheedar, Capri's Something-or-Other-Special Gouda (goat cheese), and Crave Brother's Petit Frere. Apparently the Petit Frere ages quickly and has distinctly different strength/pungence based on how recently the order was placed. As it was recent, it was milder, so they added another cheese to our plate, called Earth Schmier (which we had also discussed as a possibility). I forget who makes the Earth Schmear (Bleu Mont does). They serve the cheese plates with aprocot walnut bread, moonglow pear and orange cox pippin apple slices. The cheddar was surprisingly creamy and smooth for the age. It was crumbly, but so creamy tasting! It went well with the apples. The Earth Schmier was lovely with the bread. It is better with a pairing, to counter the middle ammonia bit, but all the other flavors of the cheese were earthy or nutty; it started and finished well, with only a subtle ammonia in the middle. The gouda was interesting. It was good with the fruit or by itself. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it made sense when you think about it being a goat cheese. The Petit Frere was very mild, but nice. It would be very good with honey and walnuts.
Before the cheese plate came out, there were fresh crackers with herbed cheese and a nut (I forgot which kind). Then there were rolls and butter, along with a taste of the sunchoke soup topped with truffle oil. I'll be making a soup with truffle oil this week... I may have to try playing with sunchokes, myself. This section of tastes was part of dining there; every table was served them.
For our entree, we shared the beet ravioli. It was fantastic. The portion was a little small for sharing, but at the price of $29, we sure weren't getting one each! Having seen the price of one of the components at market, though, I understand the pricing of the plate. Crosnes were very pricey at market and there was a small handful of them in the dish. Probably about $10 worth of those alone. The combination of flavors was wonderful. I'll be playing with a broccoli/beet/walnut pasta dish in the future, to see if I can come up with a layman's pocketbook friendly version.
We tried the Dark Chocolate Cake topped with Brûléed Bananas, served with a Valrhona Chocolate Truffle and Coconut Sabayon. Wow. The bannanas really made it, but wow. Perfect in every bite.
We'll probably go back for deserts some time; there are several others we'd like to try. We are unlikely to return for dinner. I'm glad we did, and the experience was great, but it isn't nice on the wallet and we left still hungry. However, we got to try a bunch of new flavors and it has me thinking about some cooking ideas, so I think it was worthwhile. We did feel a little out of place though; like we were uncultured. I'm sure everyone else there was much better off financially than we are. Possibly even the waiters. And we're doing ok. Either that or they're all up to their heads in debt and a couple hundred on food won't make a difference. (We didn't spend that much, but they sure did!)
Last weekend we ate at Saffron. We had intended to eat elsewhere, but they had no food at our first stop that wasn't deadly. We had passed Saffron on the way, so we stopped in to check it out. It was possibly the best dining experience we've had in recent memory, both for service and food. The food was fantastic. Everything was wonderful, and everyone was happy with it. They didn't have any veggie items in the buffet without ginger, and actually didn't make anything without ginger, but they offered to make me a meal without ginger. I got to pick out whatever I wanted off the menu and they prepared all their spice mixes fresh for me. The dish was wonderfully tasty. The whole time they were apologetic about not having something that I could eat. Then when they brought out the bill, they only charged us half-price of the buffet for my specially prepared meal that fed me for 3 rounds of leftovers! We couldn't believe it! That was half what they said it would be originally! We left a very good tip. We will definitely be returning there and encourage others to patronize their business. Based on the wall full of awards and articles, we aren't the only ones who've had good experiences there, either.