CityZen - fall menu now in place

[weezycom]

The menu changed just 3-4 days ago, so the chefs are still very excited about it. The carnivore and the vegetarian tasting menus both looked superb, but I slightly favored two courses more in the vegetarian menu and got that while B got the carnivore side, so that way we got even more tastes. The wine pairings were impeccable and incredibly interesting. And incredibly top tier service as well.

They started us with an amuse bouche, a tiny phyllo pocket stuffed with a dark roasted mushroom in sauce and served on a puree of shitake mushrooms. Following that, we each got a different little dish that they called canapes, but no tiny sandwiches here. One was a warm lobster mousse with rye whiskey, one was a celeraic puree with toasted almond and deep fried papaya slivers and the last was a demitasse of cream of chestnut soup made with an excellent sherry. The canapes were served with a spiced pomegranite champagne cocktail. I was in heaven and hadn't even gotten to the first course yet!

First course for me was a cold salad with roasted mushrooms, yuzu, radishes, sauteed spinach and puffed rice with a lime viniagrette, paired with a chenin blanc with a very lemony finish. B's was a smoked salmon pierogi on a horseradish soubise served with a fried potato "cigarette" and a slice of lox. His wine was a spanish white wine with a smokey flavor that had to be aerated, so the waiter had to pour with the wine bottle held over his head and the glass about as low as his other arm could stretch. M went with the standard 3-course menu and started with a brick (pave') of roasted cassava topped with the last of the season tomatoes that had been sauteed in butter and herbs and served with a shaved fennel salad.

Next course was the one where I ate a bite and had a sip, died of an orgasm, but resuscitated myself so I could finish it. It was a risotto made with carneroli rice and white truffles in the sauce and finished with fresh white truffle shavings (they shaved it at the table) and paired with an incredible, complex red wine from the Languedoc region with a slight nose of pine. There was an upcharge for this dish, and it was available as an option on the carnivore's menu as well. A sip of that wine and a bite of the truffle risotto was like walking through pine woods on a perfect autumn day. The meal could have ended right there and I would have been happy. B's second course was a seared duck fois gras served with lingonberry sauce, a couple of tiny potato puffs, and braised fennel, served with an unusual white wine that had an apple-caramel nose that brought out the sweetness of the lingonberry but also was clean enough to cut the richness of the fois gras. M sat this course out.

That was followed, for me, by a plate of sauteed baby pumpkin courgettes with gnocchi and stewed plums in a beurre blanc, and served with a buttery red wine. First time I've encountered a buttery red. The dish was lovely but, overall, a bit sweet for me due to the pumpkin. B had a sea scallop with sea urchin in sea urchin foam/broth with red grapefruit and scallions and his wine was a Lebanese grape (ancestor of Semillion grapes) from a German vintner that was very metallic on the nose, when you first sipped it, it seemed to have little more flavor than water, but then the taste exploded on the back of the tongue and brought all of the scallop/urchin flavors back to the forefront of the tastebuds. Fabulous and bizarre. Melissa got prime rib with mushrooms duxelle and a popover. And all this was served with the bento box of Parkerhouse rolls.

Then came the cheese cart and beer flight. Also served with cranberry fennel toast, apricot jam, pear & bell pepper jam, and almonds. The beers were a german pilsner, a belgian lager and a California stout (Rasputin). I picked a cow's milk cheese that tasted like a cross between brie and cream cheese for the pilsner, B got an ash-coated goat chevre. For the lager, I got a nutty sheeps-milk cheese that was hard like a parmesan, but less tangy and not crystalline. B got a cow's milk cheese that was cheddar-like in consistency but with a citrusy tang. And for the Rasputin, I had a nice creamy blue cheese and B got a pungent soft cheese that was a bit too stinky for my palate. M sat out the cheese course.

Then they served a pre-dessert: tiny scoops of olive oil ice cream on a bitty square of hazelnut spice cake for M and me, B had banana bread with dulce de leche and a candied walnut.

For dessert, I had a white chocolate & coconut tart with a tropical fruit puree (mango? papaya?) and mint ice cream, served with Madeira. The mint ice cream was good on its own, but was a definite miss with the other flavors on the plate. B had a fig & mascarpone napoleon with cassis ice cream served with port. M had phyllo cigars filled with dark chocolate & peanuts with peanut butter ice cream and it looked like the best of the lot.

[Wangus]

What a great read. Thanks, weezycom!