"Life is many things, and among the best of them, it is meals."-- James and Kay Salter from "Life is Meals"
The Salters go on to say that the meal is the essential act of life. I think it's not just physical life. I would also say that shared meals are essential for our spiritual and emotional lives.
Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I plan vacations and trips around restaurants to visit. I'll plan a day of running errands around the hours of Kool Korner. Having a special meal in a new place is fun for me. It's not just about the food. Good meals enjoyed with friends are important. Over time I have come to realize that I have some specific expectations of other people when I'm dining out. In my mind there are certain "rules" involved when more than two people are dining at a good restaurant.
1. Share.
2. Do not order more than one of the same dish. Although, if the group is big (six or eight people), it's ok to have duplicates. Variety also helps with rule one.
3. Do not spend too much time on the check. This is no time for higher level math. If everyone eats and drinks, just divide equally and trust that it all works out in the end.
4. Laugh a lot and relax-- even if you're somewhere pretentious.
5. Share. That's really important.
A week ago, I found myself at a restaurant I had been wanting to try for quite some time. Repast was opened last year by husband and wife team, Chefs Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai. I was going with 3 other people-- two of whom I had never met. My friend Gene, I know through Octane, but we hadn't hung out very much outside the coffee shop. While I was super excited, I wondered what these new dining friends would be like. After all, I couldn't just go in and have them promise to enjoy the dinner the way I think they should. (I try to be charming and make people like me before I go throwing out my weird rules of dining behavior.)
By the time we all gathered and had a pre-dinner cocktail, I knew that I had nothing to worry about. Almost everything looked good, so we consulted with each other to make sure that the menu was well represented at the table (see rule 2 above). After some direction from our informed and friendly (but not too friendly) server, Adrienne, we chose four appetizers. Just before the first course arrived, Adrienne offered to take our menus, and then return them when we were ready to make a decision about entrees. So smart! First was the three cheese plate (La Tur-- a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk cheese--Sweet Grass Dairy Gouda, and a Truffle Goat Cheese). We enjoyed the Salmon Naan Pizzette with goat cheese, fried capers and shallots. Yum! The season was just right for heirloom tomatoes topped with a melt in your mouth buffalo mozzarella. We each enjoyed a spoon stacked with a Japanese melon that's similar to honeydew, Maytag blue cheese and Hawaiian black salt. Perfect.
On to the entrees....which were promptly cut into four portions so we could each taste. There was Mihoko's Daily Macrobiotic Composition. That evening's selection included sesame green beans, tofu with red peppers, whole grains and roasted lotus root and carrots. The porcini crusted sea scallops were served over corn succotash with truffle butter. Also representing the water was wild Tasmanian salmon with lemon ricotta agnolotti and seasonal vegetables. The lemon was just right-- how do people not like lemon and cheese? Finally, we enjoyed cumin crusted lamb chops with sprouted garlic hummus, eggplant and feta, and a touch a mint oil. Wow. We were also given a selection of three salts to taste, a pink salt and black salt, both from Hawaii, and another salt with pyramid shaped crystals. I can't remember where it was from. It was fun tasting each dish with the different salts. There really are differences-- they weren't just "salty." Oh...and we got a side of root vegetable fries with their housemade ketchup and the kani kani-- jumbo lump crab cake with green bean slaw and yuzu caper remoulade. All washed down with Paul Hobbs Vindelocks Cabernet.
One might think that after all of this, we couldn't even think about dessert. One might underestimate us. So....we chose comforting, refreshing and decadent. We went for banana pecan bread pudding served with banana ice cream, as well as a tasting of mandarin-pineapple and lemon-lime-mint sorbet. My favorite, however, was the dark chocolate terrine with extra virgin olive oil and smoked sea salt. I was speechless. (really!) At Adrienne's suggestion, I chose the Pedro Ximenez Gran Riserva from Spain...I also chose it because it's the same age as me. So good with the chocolate.
Overall, a most lovely meal with fun new people. I forgot that I had only just met two of my three dining companions when we sat down. Shared meals are essential, and bring people together in a new way. Somewhere between bites of scallops and lamb, I took a deep breath and shared my realization-- "I was trying to think of something that could make this moment better-- and I couldn't come up with anything. I love it when that happens." Life is meals.
The Salters go on to say that the meal is the essential act of life. I think it's not just physical life. I would also say that shared meals are essential for our spiritual and emotional lives.
Anyone who knows me is aware of the fact that I plan vacations and trips around restaurants to visit. I'll plan a day of running errands around the hours of Kool Korner. Having a special meal in a new place is fun for me. It's not just about the food. Good meals enjoyed with friends are important. Over time I have come to realize that I have some specific expectations of other people when I'm dining out. In my mind there are certain "rules" involved when more than two people are dining at a good restaurant.
1. Share.
2. Do not order more than one of the same dish. Although, if the group is big (six or eight people), it's ok to have duplicates. Variety also helps with rule one.
3. Do not spend too much time on the check. This is no time for higher level math. If everyone eats and drinks, just divide equally and trust that it all works out in the end.
4. Laugh a lot and relax-- even if you're somewhere pretentious.
5. Share. That's really important.
A week ago, I found myself at a restaurant I had been wanting to try for quite some time. Repast was opened last year by husband and wife team, Chefs Joe Truex and Mihoko Obunai. I was going with 3 other people-- two of whom I had never met. My friend Gene, I know through Octane, but we hadn't hung out very much outside the coffee shop. While I was super excited, I wondered what these new dining friends would be like. After all, I couldn't just go in and have them promise to enjoy the dinner the way I think they should. (I try to be charming and make people like me before I go throwing out my weird rules of dining behavior.)
By the time we all gathered and had a pre-dinner cocktail, I knew that I had nothing to worry about. Almost everything looked good, so we consulted with each other to make sure that the menu was well represented at the table (see rule 2 above). After some direction from our informed and friendly (but not too friendly) server, Adrienne, we chose four appetizers. Just before the first course arrived, Adrienne offered to take our menus, and then return them when we were ready to make a decision about entrees. So smart! First was the three cheese plate (La Tur-- a blend of cow, sheep and goat milk cheese--Sweet Grass Dairy Gouda, and a Truffle Goat Cheese). We enjoyed the Salmon Naan Pizzette with goat cheese, fried capers and shallots. Yum! The season was just right for heirloom tomatoes topped with a melt in your mouth buffalo mozzarella. We each enjoyed a spoon stacked with a Japanese melon that's similar to honeydew, Maytag blue cheese and Hawaiian black salt. Perfect.
On to the entrees....which were promptly cut into four portions so we could each taste. There was Mihoko's Daily Macrobiotic Composition. That evening's selection included sesame green beans, tofu with red peppers, whole grains and roasted lotus root and carrots. The porcini crusted sea scallops were served over corn succotash with truffle butter. Also representing the water was wild Tasmanian salmon with lemon ricotta agnolotti and seasonal vegetables. The lemon was just right-- how do people not like lemon and cheese? Finally, we enjoyed cumin crusted lamb chops with sprouted garlic hummus, eggplant and feta, and a touch a mint oil. Wow. We were also given a selection of three salts to taste, a pink salt and black salt, both from Hawaii, and another salt with pyramid shaped crystals. I can't remember where it was from. It was fun tasting each dish with the different salts. There really are differences-- they weren't just "salty." Oh...and we got a side of root vegetable fries with their housemade ketchup and the kani kani-- jumbo lump crab cake with green bean slaw and yuzu caper remoulade. All washed down with Paul Hobbs Vindelocks Cabernet.
One might think that after all of this, we couldn't even think about dessert. One might underestimate us. So....we chose comforting, refreshing and decadent. We went for banana pecan bread pudding served with banana ice cream, as well as a tasting of mandarin-pineapple and lemon-lime-mint sorbet. My favorite, however, was the dark chocolate terrine with extra virgin olive oil and smoked sea salt. I was speechless. (really!) At Adrienne's suggestion, I chose the Pedro Ximenez Gran Riserva from Spain...I also chose it because it's the same age as me. So good with the chocolate.
Overall, a most lovely meal with fun new people. I forgot that I had only just met two of my three dining companions when we sat down. Shared meals are essential, and bring people together in a new way. Somewhere between bites of scallops and lamb, I took a deep breath and shared my realization-- "I was trying to think of something that could make this moment better-- and I couldn't come up with anything. I love it when that happens." Life is meals.
posted by l-sauce at
4:09 PM
2 Comments:
YUM!!! Why wasn't I eating that meal with you instead of eating drive-through In-N-Out Burger in California? Good food wins everytime if it's in good company.
Laura
Good for people to know.
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