Friday, January 7, 2011

Extraordinary Meals

Christmas holidays are a time when you get to eat a LOT of food, but they are not necessarily extraordinary meals. Perhaps the paella was superb, but the lechon was stale. The caviar pie was divine, yet the wine, not so much. Buffet upon buffet upon buffet, signifying nothing.

Do you remember the last time you had a truly excellent, truly extraordinary meal?

My memories of extraordinary meals did not necessarily have to do with special holiday; most of my extraordinary meals were surrounded by most ordinary circumstances.

For instance.

While in Las Vegas 2009 for my uber cool dad's 80th birthday, my sister Margie booked us a table at Blush at the Wynn, a very hip bar where tables mean bottle service. And it being the City of Sin, where prices are just another number, each bottle of whatever you want costs US$500 each.

We were 20+ strong, comprising siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles and even nephews, so of course they required us to get 2 bottles. Ouch.

At least it comes with mixers and a sexy cocktail server to pour your drinks (to make you buy more bottles).

So by the end of the night, after we had consumed 3 bottles of Grey Goose, very generously donated by brother in law Jack (thanks again Jack!) who says memories have no price, we were STARVING.

So we went off to a place in the hotel that was open for a late night meal.

OMG.

I'm not saying this because I was drunk, but we ordered the most delicious, most satisfying, should be considered a tourist must on your to-do list, steak and eggs I've ever had. I will never forget it. Steak and eggs, next time I am in Vegas I'm coming to visit you!

Sorry, I don't have photos of that meal, as I was not in bloggin mode then, only eating mode. Instead, I am going to treat you with another one of these kinds of meals while we were in Paris: La Rotisserie du Beaujolais.

Manda and I decided to spend Day 2 touring museums such as the Rodin and the D'Orsay and to make up for missing dinner, eat at a real restaurant as suggested by the American based in Paris, David Lebovitz. Manda did her foodie research, thank goodness!

We walked all the way in search of Quai de la Tournelle, where it was located, and we were not disappointed. It being a late hour, the restaurant was near empty.

happy campers high on Paris

the menus to choose from are written on blackboards on the wall

view from our table towards the Right Bank

We each got an aperitif, kir royale, I ordered my favorite escargot as our appetizer and we opted for one of their specialties, the duck good for two. My goodness, when we saw this, we wondered, "Is that duck just for us???"

his goose, or should I say duck, is cooked

As we drank our aperitifs, we began to get very tipsy, especially on the cherries laden with alcohol



 check out the cherry bombs


We ate the most wonderful, crusty bread, but careful not to overdo it, as we kept eying the duck roasting on the spit. No one else was in the restaurant, so it must have been for us!

 the open kitchen. Look at the size of that toque!

this is what you call slow food

The escargot arrived, and these were huge, fat babies that seemed just plucked out of the backyard garden. Sooo good to dip the bread into that green goodness.

Grab shell dude

Then finally, our duck was done. And what a lovely roasted duck it was. They were going to serve it two ways: roasted and grilled. 


congratulations, your huge meal is about to commence!

the wine we had with our meal

The most exquisite duck breast served with a fig reduction and potato hay. You would trade your first born child for this dish. I swear!

We were too stuffed to eat the second course, but we had to try it. Grilled chicken leg served with a side mesclun salad. 


Which would you prefer?

No room for dessert, but we were already so happy from the food, the wine, the atmosphere, being in Paris in the fall- everything. Check out the house cat, eponymously named Beaujolais- he must get all the leftovers!


Should you ever go to Paris this year, you must make this a stop on your itinerary. Now this is what you call an extraordinary meal with an extraordinary friend.


No comments:

Post a Comment