My wife and I have been together for a decade. She decided to take us to dinner as a celebration. We went to a six course meal, which I had never done before. The meal was prix fixe, and consisted of six courses, each paired with a wine selection by a professional sommelier. Each course was small, which was a good thing, since there were six of them.
We arrived at the appointed time and were served a welcome cocktail while we waited for the other diners. The cocktail was simple syrup, mint leaves, and champagne. It was intended to be a light, refreshing palate cleanser.
We sat down at the appointed time and were served our first course. It was the appetizer course. Scallop Carpaccio paired with an Italian Pinot Grigio. The scallops were sliced thinner than a sheet of paper. It was fairly good. This is the plate:
The soup course was second, and it was a Smoked Tomato Soup that had been cooked for six hours. It was paired with a white wine from Napa Valley that was pretty good.
The third course was the salad course. It was made from butter poached lobster, hearts of palm, pineapples, and cilantro with a vanilla dressing. The wine pairing was a Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
The fourth course was the fish course. It was a roasted branzino with zucchini, peppers, lemon, and a pesto. It was hands down the tastiest course of the night. If it had not been such a fancy restaurant, I would have been tempted to lick the plate. This course was paired with a Chardonnay from California.
The fifth course was the beef course. A grilled filet mignon with truffled potato puree, asparagus, and bordelaise sauce. It was delicious, but I have to admit that I was getting pretty full at this point. This course was paired with a Cabernet from Napa Valley.
The last (dessert) course was a chocolate sphere that they poured hot caramel over, revealing a peanut butter ganache, chocolate mousse, and a caramel gelato. It was good, but I was so full at this point, I only ate about a third of the dessert. It was paired with a Salted Caramel Espresso Martini. The martini was so good that I had two of them.
The meal was superb, but I have to admit that I ate so much that I didn’t eat at all the following day. I had two of the martinis, and that turned out to be a mistake. First, there was so much alcohol served with this meal, that I was pretty drunk after the three hour dinner experience. Second, I woke up in the middle of the night to pee, and my heart was racing at about 120 beats per minute. I am guessing the espresso had something to do with it.
We had a great night, and this meal was an appropriate celebration of ten years together.
8 Comments
Scots · April 1, 2024 at 10:58 am
Went to Japanese steakhouse with dreamboat HS sweetheart green eyed Irish lass that got away and it was fun
The best part was the round of naked co-ed wrestling that we had afterward!
Now that whole area SE side of town is fundamentally transformed and my dream house is still grandparents 1980s residence on cul-de-sac on that side of town backing up to interstate with basement of full wet bar and bathroom, pappy hung out there during divorce before the Fort Knox Gunny Highway sarge deployment.
Don W Curton · April 1, 2024 at 11:36 am
Congratulations on the anniversary.
I’ll admit to never having that fancy a dining experience. Over the years I’ve finally learned to avoid the all-you-can-eat salad bar and also not dig into the “free” bread they bring to the table. I’m guessing on the 6 course meal you’d have to only take a bite or two on several courses to avoid feeling bloated at the end. And yeah, I was thinking that’s a lot of alcohol even before you got to the 2 martinis at the end. Overall sounds great, if you can avoid the late night issues.
D · April 1, 2024 at 12:08 pm
Congratulations on the anniversary.
My wife and I are facing our 20th next year.
Steve S6 · April 1, 2024 at 1:50 pm
Going to be hard to top that at 20 years. (grin)
Wife was at a professional seminar (5 day) at Snowmass CO (off season) couple decades back now and I was responsible for finding where to eat. Saw a small sign at the office advertising a 6 course meal special at one of the on site restaurants with a mushroom theme for all the courses. With house wines per course for like $34 per person. We went. Just as superb as you described even the odd sounding but excellent ice cream desert (yes mushroom themed ice cream). Next day her colleagues asked where she had gone for dinner as they didn’t run into her. Turns out they variously had pizza (individual) or hamburger and fries types of dinners for near $30. They flipped when she described our dinner. That was the first night. The final night just about everyone went to that restaurant even though they didn’t have a special then. Turned out the chef had been the head chef for the Shah of Iran. I could see why and have never had a world class chef’s meal since.
Fun Grandma · April 1, 2024 at 5:28 pm
Congratulations! I hope you both enjoy many more years together.
Fishlaw · April 1, 2024 at 5:50 pm
My wife and I are coming up on 45 years. Where we used to live there used to be a really fine restaraunt. Salad course, soup course and main meal. Took our kids when they were about 5 and 7. Host was very nervous, but we told him our kids knew how to behave. Kids did fine. Their eyes bugged out right before the main course because they brought out lemon sherbert to cleanse the pallet. “Holy cow–we get ice cream in the middle of the meal!” They are pushing 40 and they still talk about it.
BraulerBob · April 1, 2024 at 9:42 pm
Congratulations! We just celebrated our 23rd this past weekend. Nothing too fancy, sushi and a nice mead to sip on. I can’t imagine my life without my other half.
ModernDayJeremiah · April 2, 2024 at 12:16 am
Congratulations on the 10 years. Glad you and your bride had a fine celebration.
Comments are closed.