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So, Gordon took us out to Wink to eat Monday. They are a very expensive restaurant that does the Slow Food thing- we were there from 6 'til around 9. We opted for the seven course meal, which isn't as much food as it sounds like. You get a little portion, about 3-4 bites- and we also added on the paired wines, so with each dish we got about a third of a glass of wine that the waiter picked out.
When we arrived, there was maybe one other couple in the small room and we were told to sit anywhere. I picked out a table at random, and on the menus was printed "happy birthday stacy & eric!" which was trippy, because it was on none of the other menus. Somehow they used subliminal influence to get us to sit at that particular table (or I picked it because it was set for three people). Right as we sat down, they brought out a little espresso cup for each of us half-filled with a sharp-tasting tomato soup with a little bit of panko crumbled on it. We looked over the menu and I was able to substitute things for dishes that had seafood easily. So we settled in.
bull's blood beet soup with crème fraîche
The waiter made a point to mention that there was no actual blood in this dish, it was just a reference to the color. This was beet puree, basically, with a bit of some dairy product garnishing it. It reminded me of all the times I ate beets as a kid, and wanted to dislike them because they were canned and weird, but didn't because they were sweet and tasty.
'oscare' red oak with cherub tomatoes, toasted walnuts, shaved fennel, and goat feta buttermilk
Here was a tiny salad. Not much to say about it, but it was yummy. I even ate the tomatoes, and I don't usually do raw tomatoes. The dressing was good. It was like Ranch dressing +2.
dayboat scallop on trumpet royale-heart of palm fricasée with pancetta
This was a seafood dish. I told the waiter I didn't do seafood, but was interested in trying the trumpet royale, which was a kind of mushroom I'd never heard of. So could they just make it for me as usual but leave off the scallop? What the chef did for me was prepare it as usual, then take 2 more of these strange mushrooms (which sort of had a shelf-fungus look to them) and sauté them. So what we had was mushrooms , heart of palm (sort of like bamboo you get with Chinese food), and pancetta, which is more or less bacon. It was amazingly wonderfully delicious. Mushrooms and bacon. Oh god yes! Everyone else had it with the scallop, and seemed pleased with it.
crisp duck breast on saffron quinoa with matsutake mushrooms, bcf chicories, and red onion port
Hey, quinoa and another weird mushroom I have not tried! These looked like regular button mushrooms with a thin stem, but about the size of a chickpea. They were a garnish around the main dish, which was the duck on the quinoa. The duck was very rare, and I am more of a well-done kind of person. But I know that this is a result of my plebian upbringing, so I sucked it up. It was very tasty, though I had to make a point to ignore the texture, which was just too much like raw meat. 'BFC' by the way refers to some local farm that they get a lot of their produce from.
grilled prime ny strip with sweet potato gratin, mousseron mushrooms, bcf chard, and balsamic
More weird mushrooms! More rare-cooked meat too, though this was easier to eat since the texture wasn't quite as... oh, rubbery, though that's not exactly it. I don't recall much about the mushrooms, I think they were sliced and pretty much like regular mushrooms. The sweet potato gratin was an interesting surprise- you remember those cheesy au gratin potatoes you could make out of a box? This was like that, but much higher quality as you'd expect. I can't say a lot about the meat... I'm not much of a steak connoisseur, past a point it all tastes pretty similar.
old europe cheeseplate: brunet, l'edel de cleron, le marechal, and youngsboro stilton
Cheese! I have no hope of remembering which was what, but there was a hard cheese, a soft cheese, a stinky moldy cheese, and a sort of middle of the road cheese. This was served on a big rectangular platter in the middle of the table for everyone to share, along with bread rounds, apple, and raspberries. I'm not quite as green with cheese as I am with steak, and being able to contrast different good cheeses was a lot of fun.
dessert
To finish off the meal, we each picked a dessert. I had the El Rey chocolate cake, which was delicious but didn't really stand out. Gordon had the lemon meringue pot, which was a little hard meringue cup full of lemon stuff. Eric had a cranberry apple tart that was tasty. But better than that was the wine. I haven't said much about the wines because again I am not a connoisseur, but we had a different wine with every course. They started out white and light, and got progressively stronger and redder. The waiter paired the desserts with their own wine, so I got a nice dark port with my chocolate cake. Eric got a lighter tawny port with his tart, which sent him into rapture. He sort of chowed down on the tart but with every sip of wine he paused and closed his eyes. It was a lovely sight to behold, and part of why I got him a gift certificate to Grapevine Market for his birthday. When we inquired after this wine, the waiter gave us the name (dammit, I've forgotten, but it started with a Y; that probably narrows it down considerably) and then said "but wait, you should try this other one!" and brought out a white wine. Even I know that whites don't have much in common with even a tawny port, but this one did, and it was sweet and bold and yummy. Not quite as wonderful as the tawny port, but it was nice to have another new thing to try.
We got to keep the menus (if that wasn't obvious) and the chef actually signed them for us. Gordon dropped more on this meal than I paid for my first car, and I owe him. It was really great to be able to try a lot of new things- especially when they are expertly-prepared food and good wines. I wouldn't want to eat like that every day, but I think it's something everyone should get to do once in their life.
When we arrived, there was maybe one other couple in the small room and we were told to sit anywhere. I picked out a table at random, and on the menus was printed "happy birthday stacy & eric!" which was trippy, because it was on none of the other menus. Somehow they used subliminal influence to get us to sit at that particular table (or I picked it because it was set for three people). Right as we sat down, they brought out a little espresso cup for each of us half-filled with a sharp-tasting tomato soup with a little bit of panko crumbled on it. We looked over the menu and I was able to substitute things for dishes that had seafood easily. So we settled in.
bull's blood beet soup with crème fraîche
The waiter made a point to mention that there was no actual blood in this dish, it was just a reference to the color. This was beet puree, basically, with a bit of some dairy product garnishing it. It reminded me of all the times I ate beets as a kid, and wanted to dislike them because they were canned and weird, but didn't because they were sweet and tasty.
'oscare' red oak with cherub tomatoes, toasted walnuts, shaved fennel, and goat feta buttermilk
Here was a tiny salad. Not much to say about it, but it was yummy. I even ate the tomatoes, and I don't usually do raw tomatoes. The dressing was good. It was like Ranch dressing +2.
dayboat scallop on trumpet royale-heart of palm fricasée with pancetta
This was a seafood dish. I told the waiter I didn't do seafood, but was interested in trying the trumpet royale, which was a kind of mushroom I'd never heard of. So could they just make it for me as usual but leave off the scallop? What the chef did for me was prepare it as usual, then take 2 more of these strange mushrooms (which sort of had a shelf-fungus look to them) and sauté them. So what we had was mushrooms , heart of palm (sort of like bamboo you get with Chinese food), and pancetta, which is more or less bacon. It was amazingly wonderfully delicious. Mushrooms and bacon. Oh god yes! Everyone else had it with the scallop, and seemed pleased with it.
crisp duck breast on saffron quinoa with matsutake mushrooms, bcf chicories, and red onion port
Hey, quinoa and another weird mushroom I have not tried! These looked like regular button mushrooms with a thin stem, but about the size of a chickpea. They were a garnish around the main dish, which was the duck on the quinoa. The duck was very rare, and I am more of a well-done kind of person. But I know that this is a result of my plebian upbringing, so I sucked it up. It was very tasty, though I had to make a point to ignore the texture, which was just too much like raw meat. 'BFC' by the way refers to some local farm that they get a lot of their produce from.
grilled prime ny strip with sweet potato gratin, mousseron mushrooms, bcf chard, and balsamic
More weird mushrooms! More rare-cooked meat too, though this was easier to eat since the texture wasn't quite as... oh, rubbery, though that's not exactly it. I don't recall much about the mushrooms, I think they were sliced and pretty much like regular mushrooms. The sweet potato gratin was an interesting surprise- you remember those cheesy au gratin potatoes you could make out of a box? This was like that, but much higher quality as you'd expect. I can't say a lot about the meat... I'm not much of a steak connoisseur, past a point it all tastes pretty similar.
old europe cheeseplate: brunet, l'edel de cleron, le marechal, and youngsboro stilton
Cheese! I have no hope of remembering which was what, but there was a hard cheese, a soft cheese, a stinky moldy cheese, and a sort of middle of the road cheese. This was served on a big rectangular platter in the middle of the table for everyone to share, along with bread rounds, apple, and raspberries. I'm not quite as green with cheese as I am with steak, and being able to contrast different good cheeses was a lot of fun.
dessert
To finish off the meal, we each picked a dessert. I had the El Rey chocolate cake, which was delicious but didn't really stand out. Gordon had the lemon meringue pot, which was a little hard meringue cup full of lemon stuff. Eric had a cranberry apple tart that was tasty. But better than that was the wine. I haven't said much about the wines because again I am not a connoisseur, but we had a different wine with every course. They started out white and light, and got progressively stronger and redder. The waiter paired the desserts with their own wine, so I got a nice dark port with my chocolate cake. Eric got a lighter tawny port with his tart, which sent him into rapture. He sort of chowed down on the tart but with every sip of wine he paused and closed his eyes. It was a lovely sight to behold, and part of why I got him a gift certificate to Grapevine Market for his birthday. When we inquired after this wine, the waiter gave us the name (dammit, I've forgotten, but it started with a Y; that probably narrows it down considerably) and then said "but wait, you should try this other one!" and brought out a white wine. Even I know that whites don't have much in common with even a tawny port, but this one did, and it was sweet and bold and yummy. Not quite as wonderful as the tawny port, but it was nice to have another new thing to try.
We got to keep the menus (if that wasn't obvious) and the chef actually signed them for us. Gordon dropped more on this meal than I paid for my first car, and I owe him. It was really great to be able to try a lot of new things- especially when they are expertly-prepared food and good wines. I wouldn't want to eat like that every day, but I think it's something everyone should get to do once in their life.
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Date: Dec. 3rd, 2006 05:53 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Dec. 3rd, 2006 08:50 pm (UTC)From:mmmmmmmfoodgasmmmmmm
Date: Dec. 4th, 2006 04:03 am (UTC)From:What is Yalumba?