Tonight I had my first ‘celebration’ dinner with a friend.
Midu is my adventurous dining partner in crime. We were friends in high school who reconnected a few years ago, thanks to social networking. We both have husbands/fiances whose palettes aren’t as expansive as ours, so we meet every other month or so to try exotic or haute cuisine, or just the more interesting dishes at better restaurants, places that would be wasted on our partners.
Midu in front of Minetta Tavern's Black Label burger
(sorry for the crappy low light camera phone pic)
Tonight we finally made it to Marc Forgione in Tribeca, a place that we’ve been meaning to visit for a year now. Chef Forgione just won The Next Iron Chef competition, so we figured we better get in quick before the place explodes- we were almost too late, because the 5:45 reservation we got it was the only one available all night.
Holy Crap. It was possibly the best meal of my life! We started with a celebratory glass of champagne, then I moved on to the autumn sangria: Demi-Sec Rose, Quince Soup, Calvados, Citrus & Herb Essence, Bubbles, plus a candied slice of pear that I ate and some pomegranate. Appetizer: BBQ Baked Olde Salt & Hummock Island Oysters, Aromatic Sea Salt, Bacon Powder. Entrees: Duck Breast with Foie Gras Ravioli, Braised Brussel Sprouts, Butternut Squash and Nutmeg Emulsion; and a Ribeye with Dry Aged Potato, Maitake, Black Kale and Ginger Ketchup.
Oh my god. So damn good. In between bites, we talked about weddings- she’s a fairly newlywed (under two years) so she has a lot of advice to give. Still, we barely scratched the surface because we spent so much time eating! Which means we have a great excude to go back soon... to talk, of course.
Now I have to go to bed and dream about those oysters…
Ooohh I feel like such a celebrity! Its 10am and I want those Oysters again!
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