food heaven
Yesterday was Denise's birthday. After some advanced planning we spent the night in the city, and went to dinner at the Dining Room at the Ritz Carlton. We decided to have the chef's 9 course tasting menu. What made it even more interesting is that we each were served completely different meals, so it was really 18 courses of food that was prepared. In order, here's what we were served:
1st course: Asparagus soup with cavier & oysters for me, and winter carrot soup with rice dusted squid & creme freche for Denise
2nd course: prawn sashimi with japanese salts, pink peppercorns & yuzu gelee for Denise, and sashimi of kampachi with English cucumber, radishes, yuzu gelee and black truffle glass for me
3rd course: Sea Bream with black chanterelle mushrooms, oxtail ravioli, baby turnips & oxtail sauce reduction for Denise, and Isake with ramps, leek puree, and champagne brown butter emulsion for me
4th course: Sea scallops with potatoes, blue foot mushrooms, green garlic & sake lobster broth for me, and Maine lobster with hearts of palm, baby carrots & blood orange reduction for Denise
5th course: chilled foie gras with pear rectangles, tawny port syrup marcona almonds & arugula for me, and hot seared foie gras with apple pudding, quince, apple juice with long pepper & ginger spiced bread for Denise
6th course: squab with broccoli leaves & huckleberry sauce for me, and poularde breast with spring onions, sweet carrot puree, and pea tendril sauce for Denise
7th course: beef ribeye with porcini mushrooms, and a tawny port reduction for me, veal morel mushrooms, artichoke, fava beans, potato gnocchi & ruby port for Denise
8th course: blood orange sorbet with champagne gelee for me, and ginger spritzer with lemon sorbet & tangerine segments for Denise
9th course: coconut panna cotta en coupe with pineapple vanilla soup, gewurtztramminer meringue & tangerine sorbet for me, and chocolate manjari caramel cake with hazelnut ice cream, teecino foam, hazelnut crisp & maldon salt for Denise
Everything was amazing & delicious. If I had to pick the best course, it would likely be the foie gras. The two different preparations of the same food showed the broad spectrum, and how amazing foie gras could be either cold or warm. If there was a weakness, it was Denise's veal which was excessively salty.
Dinner lasted nearly 3 and a half hours, but it was well worth it. This was easily one of the most amazing dining experiences we've ever had. The service was absolutely flawless, and the food came very close. There were numerous small touches which made the entire experience one that will be very memorable for a long time to come. Upon leaving we were handed a printed copy of what we were served (since the official menu just lists "Chef's 9 course tasting menu"), and it was signed by the chef, Ron Siegel.