Dinner at L'Etoile

[pantryslut]

I promised somebody I would write up my Friday night dinner at L'Etoile in Madison, also known as the fancy 11th anniversary dinner for Steven and me.

As predicted, it was fab. Even the weather cooperated: it was sunny when we entered the restaurant, rain started pouring down while we sat at the bar waiting for our table, and then stopped once we were seated next to the big front window.

L'Etoile also gets major bonus points on their gender politics. First, they poured a tasting of the wine for both me and Steven; next, when our main courses came (we'd told them we were sharing both) they placed the steak in front of me and the chicken in front of Steven; and finally, they placed the check at the far corner of the table, equidistant between the two of us.

Lest you think that this isn't such a big deal, I have never been at a restaurant where they bothered to pour a tasting for both of us. Never. (Sometimes a place will pour one tasting and let us decide who will take it.)

Anyway. Onto the food itself.

Steven wrote down the wine we had, which was more expensive than we usually indulge in, Spanish, and worth every penny.

For appetizers, we had carpaccio and morel mushroom and goat cheese ravioli. The carpaccio was good, and the ravioli was divine.

Our first entree was roast chicken (breast and leg?) with an onion and potato cake and baby bok choy on the side. We fought over the skin. Out other entree was rib-eye steak with roasted potatoes and spinach on the side, and a red wine sauce if I remember correctly. (We passed on the bison. This time.) This was also amazing, for I do not usually like steak, yet it was hard to share. But I had to if I was going to get some of that chicken skin...

Then we had a cheese course. We had three: Lil' Will's Bandaged Cheddar, a four-month goat's milk havarti, and a local "alpine style" cheese called Pleasant Ridge Reserve that Steven fell in love with.

For dessert, it was banana beignets with chocolate dipping sauce for me, and raspberry-chocolate "Vesuvius" for Steven.

In summary: yum yum yum yum yum.

Steven went and thanked some of the vendors at the farmer's market the next day.

Comments

[debbieann.livejournal.com]

yummmmmm! the ravioli sounds divine. I have never had two tastings poured. In some fancy restaurants I've seen the waiter take a sip of the wine before even pouring the tasting - I had never seen that before, now I've seen it at the ritz carleton and gary danko. At the ritz they lit a candle and used it to look at the wine as it was poured

[tgeller.livejournal.com]

For some reason I read that as "Li'l Will's Bandaged Badger", which brought an amusing mental image to mind in the middle of an otherwise dreary workday.

Wine Geeking

[imnotandrei.livejournal.com]

Hacienda Monasterio 1999, Ribera Del Duero.