Dinner at the Maestro
Enter, The Maestro, the restaraunt at the Ritz Carlton here. I realize I have not been since July, and realized I had a very real need for some of Chef Fabio Trabocchi's AAA Five-Diamond Restaraunt's fare.
The meal started unexpectedly when I received the surprise delivery of a drink I had not ordered. Luckily, Vincent Feraud, the sommelier (formerly of the Watergate), corrected it and delivered my Pimms No. 1 Cup -- but sacrilege! NO CUCUMBER! Yes! I know what you're saying! They claimed they didn't have any cucumber! They garnished it with a very tasty fresh slice of mango instead. hmm. what's happening I wondered... a Karmic Realignment?
So I order the highly randomized and inspired Tasting Menu (5 courses) (of which they delivered like 8), with my usual requests of No Fish / No Olives. Strangely, another CATESTROPHIC ANOMALY, in that they delivered some fennel / anise soup with some SALMON tar-tar -- SEND IT AWAY I EXCLAIM! No seafood for me!
The next dish which arrives is some nice tomato pesto thingie-thing but whatever it was I was horrified to realize it was garnished with some kind of concentrated olive essence paste. AM I IN THE TWILIGHT ZONE? YIKES! So far I wonder... they're batting 1000 -- cummon (I mean, wrong drink, fish dish + olive dish -- my two no no's), this is an AAA-5 star restaraunt! What's going wrong?!
So my confusion and bewilderment catch the attention of some of the more senior staff and I see motion in the shadows. My next plate is some kind of fantastic rich gnocci with preserved black truffles and truffle foam, in a rich cream. LIKE YUM. IT GOES DOWN FAST. ARE WE ON THE ROAD TO WELLSVILLE?
I continue reading my hacker zine (blacklist411) until the next thing appears. The next thing happens to be this rather cool buffalo cheese pasta in some kind of amazing sauce. Each ravioli had a nice tempura snow-pea on it, and the sauce was amazing. Vincent had poured some fantastic wine that was all peppery, and saucy like a drunk french woman who growled a lot. Speaking of which, a beautiful mature woman, obviously made of money kissed Vincent on her way out -- and he blushed and smiled at me enjoying the attention, while the woman went on to kiss many more men on her way out. I called her 'easy', but apparently she was a favorite of the staff and I was informed I would 'have a talking to' :)
Next up was this pork-belly thing that was initially challenging. Imagine bacon, but 1" thick instead of bacon. Lots of fat. I'm not normally one for fat, but I've learned to eat everything the Maestro puts infront of me, barring fish and olives of course. This pork-belly was lavished in some kind of sherry sauce, with apple shavings, and a deep fried battered egg thing, and some delicious applish sort of cream. Simply tremendous -- bring it on I say! The fat was really like a boston cream donut, and on a taste level was certainly not challenging, but on an intellectual level there was a bit of a battle. I'm happy my taste buds prevailed, if not my health-sense. Still, the Maestro is a rare treat.
Next course was the main meat, which was a duck confit I think, with a 9 spice espresso mix, which went down real fine. Super tasty. It had little fruit seeds (persimmon -- nah. what is it? the one that Hades tempted Persephone with? Wait, yeah, the pomegranate. This thing had pomegranate seeds. I'm too drunk right now to know for sure). Anyway, it was all pretty grand in conception, and Vincent had a great new wine with it... not as exceptional as the first, but it paired well with the duck and my general semi-overtaken state.
While Vincent was doing something elsewhere, I noticed he had a port-cart with him, and realized I had to have some 1977 Dow Port... With what though? decisions decisions.. perhaps I'll forgoe the default desert course in anticipation of the cheese tray. And so it came to pass that PAULSOP.COM selected 4 cheeses: a light tripple cream cow milk, a saucy peppery harder cheese also from the cow, a rich and complex cheese, again from our favoured moo-machine -- this one was rolled in barley and oats for the rind, and finally a complex and sharp cheese with an orange and waxy rind that reminded me of zit puss. Needless to say all were fantastic, and the warm fresh baked rasin bread and apple compote completed this particular experience.
I was ready for the bill, but that was not to be. Feeling bad about the initial mis-direction, I got about 12 deserts, which I shall attempt to enumerate here, with ratings from 1/10: A white chocolate ball full of guava sorbet (10/10), a chocolate super exploding choco-cream mouse thingie (10/10), a small jar of fresh baked madelines (9/10), a grapefruit jelly (7/10), a raspberry jelly (10/10), a pistashio chocolate super choco choco choco (10/10), a weird pistashio illuminati pyramid with a red jelly top and a peice of gold for the ye (10/10), and possibly other things -- I was nearly in a Coma at this point.
I think I forgot about a course on the way :)
Water provided by pellegrino. When the bill came, they told me they'd taken the water and the wine right off the bill -- classy guys they are. Staff, as usual, was excellent and very chatty tonight, which I love. Great place -- check it out. My boss, incidently, doesn't care much for the place -- froo froo he terms it ;) He prefers more substantive italian fare, esp. Veal Chops, of which he's an expert.
Ciao!
