the best food ever
My anniversary with Raymond is tomorrow and he starts a new job (YEA!) on Monday. So, to celebrate, he surprised me with a dinner out last night. We went to Rover's (http://www.rovers-seattle.com/). Oh, my, god, it was so amazing! Rover's has a "tasting menu," which means that there are preset dinners, with all of the courses already decided. You choose between a vegetarian dinner, non-vegetarian, or "grand" (eight courses!). Because it looked so good, we both went with the Grand dinner ($125 each).
Each course was very small, but rich and orgasmically tasty. I won't be able to do it justice, because there were so many courses and each had it's own amazing sauce.
Scrambled egg with creme fraiche and caviar - this was served in an eggshell that was open at one end. The creme fraiche and caviar were amazing. The scrambled egg part was only okay. As scrambled eggs go, they were impressive, but they were still eggs. Raymond didn't like his at all, so I ate the caviar and creme freche off of his, leaving two shells half filled with egg.
Snapper salad - I don't remember this one much, other than it was extremely good. I think this is the one that had mango. (Raymond says it was snapper, but I keep thinking it might have been halibut.)
Scallop - one single large scallop in a creamy, tasty ragu (I dont' know what the definition of ragu is, but the sauce seemed to be mostly cream with some tomato). The scallop was exquisitely cooked to exactly the right level of doneness. So tender.
Lobster in lobster sauce, with baby beets - I don't like beets, but the lobster was so tender and so tasty I didn't mind leaving the beets just sitting there (though it represented at least $5 worth of food).
Seared foie gras with peach with wine sauce - Oh. My. God. I'd never had foie gras before, other than pate once or twice. (And now that I've read how they raise the birds, I probably will put it on the list of foods like veal that I will avoid.) It was seared on the outside and completely tender and succulent on the inside. Because the inside was so rare, it did not have the grainy texture I associate with liver. The peaches were also wonderfully done: sweet and tender. I kept meaning to try a bite of the two together, but it was gone before I realized it!
Monkfish on a bed of fennel - This was also quite tasty, but I'm not a huge fan of cooked fish and I was getting full. I ate only half of this.
Spiced pinot sorbet - this was a palate cleanser and was very strong. The waiter told us it was spiced primarily with three spices and that the quiz would come later. I identified clove immediately, but it was so strong I couldn't taste anything else. He told us there was cinnamon (which I couldn't detect even after he told us), and would only give us the hint "Gilligan's Island" for the last spice. As he walked away I said "Ginger!" and he turned around, and gave me one of those snap/point combinatione with a wink. I could only sort of taste the ginger, mostly in the aftertaste. Unfortunately, I don't like ginger. A friend who went to culinary school says she finds the use of clove odd, as she learned in school specifically NOT to use clove in a palate-cleansing sorbet, since it deadens the taste buds.
Squab with haricot verts (green beans) and some fancy word for mashed potatoes - Succulent, tender, moist, amazing flavor. I didn't find out until today that squab is pigeon! Although I was close to bursting, I ate every last bite. (To give you an idea of portion size, there were about two tablespoons worth of mashed potatoes, which was in proportion to the other food.) "The Chef with the hat!!!" (how he is listed in the menu, and what is embroidered on his chef's coat) came out to chat with us during this course. Alas, it was somewhat awkward, because I had no idea what to say to him, other than "The food is amazing," which I could only say so many times. I overheard his conversations with other guests, who all seemed to know far more about food than I (for instance, one guest talked about about goose liver was impossible to find, so all foie gras is duck liver). Raymond did tell him that it was our anniversary and he congratulated us.
Dessert - The fact that dessert was not my favorite course (as it usually is) should give an indication of the quality of the other food. We had a huckleberry something (sort of souffle-like, served cold), pear tart, and a profiterole with a tiny scoop of the richest chocolate icecream possible. Seriously, I didn't know it was possible to make ice cream that rich. Written along the edge of the plate was "Happy Anniversary!" Awww..
Total time: Two and a half hours!
Total bill, including tip: $360!!!!!! Holy cow, we won't be doing that again soon.
Each course was very small, but rich and orgasmically tasty. I won't be able to do it justice, because there were so many courses and each had it's own amazing sauce.
Scrambled egg with creme fraiche and caviar - this was served in an eggshell that was open at one end. The creme fraiche and caviar were amazing. The scrambled egg part was only okay. As scrambled eggs go, they were impressive, but they were still eggs. Raymond didn't like his at all, so I ate the caviar and creme freche off of his, leaving two shells half filled with egg.
Snapper salad - I don't remember this one much, other than it was extremely good. I think this is the one that had mango. (Raymond says it was snapper, but I keep thinking it might have been halibut.)
Scallop - one single large scallop in a creamy, tasty ragu (I dont' know what the definition of ragu is, but the sauce seemed to be mostly cream with some tomato). The scallop was exquisitely cooked to exactly the right level of doneness. So tender.
Lobster in lobster sauce, with baby beets - I don't like beets, but the lobster was so tender and so tasty I didn't mind leaving the beets just sitting there (though it represented at least $5 worth of food).
Seared foie gras with peach with wine sauce - Oh. My. God. I'd never had foie gras before, other than pate once or twice. (And now that I've read how they raise the birds, I probably will put it on the list of foods like veal that I will avoid.) It was seared on the outside and completely tender and succulent on the inside. Because the inside was so rare, it did not have the grainy texture I associate with liver. The peaches were also wonderfully done: sweet and tender. I kept meaning to try a bite of the two together, but it was gone before I realized it!
Monkfish on a bed of fennel - This was also quite tasty, but I'm not a huge fan of cooked fish and I was getting full. I ate only half of this.
Spiced pinot sorbet - this was a palate cleanser and was very strong. The waiter told us it was spiced primarily with three spices and that the quiz would come later. I identified clove immediately, but it was so strong I couldn't taste anything else. He told us there was cinnamon (which I couldn't detect even after he told us), and would only give us the hint "Gilligan's Island" for the last spice. As he walked away I said "Ginger!" and he turned around, and gave me one of those snap/point combinatione with a wink. I could only sort of taste the ginger, mostly in the aftertaste. Unfortunately, I don't like ginger. A friend who went to culinary school says she finds the use of clove odd, as she learned in school specifically NOT to use clove in a palate-cleansing sorbet, since it deadens the taste buds.
Squab with haricot verts (green beans) and some fancy word for mashed potatoes - Succulent, tender, moist, amazing flavor. I didn't find out until today that squab is pigeon! Although I was close to bursting, I ate every last bite. (To give you an idea of portion size, there were about two tablespoons worth of mashed potatoes, which was in proportion to the other food.) "The Chef with the hat!!!" (how he is listed in the menu, and what is embroidered on his chef's coat) came out to chat with us during this course. Alas, it was somewhat awkward, because I had no idea what to say to him, other than "The food is amazing," which I could only say so many times. I overheard his conversations with other guests, who all seemed to know far more about food than I (for instance, one guest talked about about goose liver was impossible to find, so all foie gras is duck liver). Raymond did tell him that it was our anniversary and he congratulated us.
Dessert - The fact that dessert was not my favorite course (as it usually is) should give an indication of the quality of the other food. We had a huckleberry something (sort of souffle-like, served cold), pear tart, and a profiterole with a tiny scoop of the richest chocolate icecream possible. Seriously, I didn't know it was possible to make ice cream that rich. Written along the edge of the plate was "Happy Anniversary!" Awww..
Total time: Two and a half hours!
Total bill, including tip: $360!!!!!! Holy cow, we won't be doing that again soon.