dinner for two at alexander's

[rone]

The menu says, PROPER ATTIRE ENCOURAGED.  I wish the dude in the frayed jeans and the "I LOVE MY GIRLFRIEND" T-shirt had read it.

We considered the omakase, but i really didn't see myself eating that much.  I went in with the firm idea that, given the high level of culinary art on display, i would try everything i was served, even if it's not to my normal taste.  So i tried the blue cheese dressing with my iceberg wedges salad and enjoyed it; i got the beef and reef, and ate all the mushrooms, which went well with the filet mignon; and for dessert, i ordered the Ooh!, and ate the black olive ice cream.  I generally abhor olives, but the waiter explained that the saltiness of the ice cream was there to cut the richness of the various chocolates; i figured i had nothing to lose.  I don't know if i would have liked it on its own, but the ice cream fulfilled its duty as a richness buffer with flying colors, uh, flavors.

Kimmy had the baby lettuce salad and the filet mignon, and the Pearadise for dessert; we also ordered the haricot verts, and a couple of hamachi shots, which were simply delicious.  The amuse-bouche were also very good.

As for the wine, i opened with a glass of the aged riesling (not the one listed; it was a 1989 Dr. Heyden Oppenheimer Kruez Auslese from Germany), which was a highlight for me; it was quite complex for a white wine, it showed its age very well, and it adapted well to everything i had before my entrée.  We then ordered the Barbaresco half-bottle to go with our filets, which did an admirable job despite my initial skepticism (it tasted like a pinot noir trying to impersonate a merlot).  For dessert, Kimmy got a glass of their muscat, which was excellent, not too sweet, and paired perfectly with the Pearadise, and i asked for a glass of 1968 madeira.  Sadly, they were out, so the server upsold me to a glass of 1983 vintage port and one of the 10-year madeiras (the latter came at no charge).

I have to showcase my dessert.

It is as described in the dessert menu, except that the bits you see surrounding the black olive ice cream on the right are minced cacao nibs.  The chocolate sphere was not precisely filled with fudge; rather, it was a dollop of fudge about the same size as the ice cream.

When the dish was brought out, the sphere was complete; hot melted chocolate was poured upon it until it melted through and fell upon the fudge within the sphere, leaving the jagged edges you see above.

They brought this out as their gift, purportedly some sort of apple crème brûlée, but Kimmy thought it tasted more like pumpkin.  It tasted more like apple pie to me, with a definite cinnamon flavor which i did not care for.  The other freebies we got were two flutes of Cristalino Brut, which were the first things to arrive at the table.

When our server pulled the cork from our bottle of Barbaresco, he put it in this weird contraption, clearly intending to display the cork, but the next time he came by our table, he took it away.

Our meal, overall, was fantastic.  But i have some complaints:

• Their online menu wasn't updated, so a few dishes we wanted were missing.  The omission i found most puzzling was the Divinity, the chocolate soufflé, which was inexplicably replaced by the Rise ‘n’ Shine, a banana soufflé.
• We were amused by patrons receiving cotton candy as the sweet that comes with the bill; we were looking forward to ours, but the blasted machine broke just before we received our bill.  We received some odd ultra-French toast-like squares instead, which weren't all that and really were too sweet for that point in the evening.
• There's no other way to put this: the men's room smelled like tinkle.  If i'm going to a ballgame, fine.  If i'm going to a fancy restaurant, unacceptable.
• Kimmy found the chairs almost too uncomfortable.  Again, not what you'd expect at a high-end restaurant.

Regardless, it was all fabulous and i'd do it again, especially if someone else is paying.

Comments

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Yum!

[erikred.livejournal.com]

Superb. How was the 25 year-old port?

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

I was actually not very impressed. It seemed rather simple. It might not have been able to stand up to the richness of the dessert. The madeira performed much better. The server put me off the banyuls, but that would have been my choice, so maybe i'll go with my gut next time.

[epileptikitty.livejournal.com]

My Bro-The-Pro said that chocolate dominates any other flavor, and there is no point drinking a good wine at the same time. He knows some nerd cult, but would not say 'chocolate pwns wine'.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

My experience begs to differ, but i'm no pro. And chocolate can be surprisingly complex, too.

[epileptikitty.livejournal.com]

I think my sense of smell is a tad weak. Chocolate tends to cover all but the weirder stronger flavors for me, and only port is at all interesting.

I'll have to hunt up buylans (??), haven't heard of it.

BTW the TJ's house-label brandy is nice. Vanilla-y and not much aged. Pairs well with egg nog.

[epileptikitty.livejournal.com]

Banyuls.

[boutell.livejournal.com]

Mmmfl!

I'm glad your photos loaded slowly as your alt text is well-written.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I do try to make it useful.

Mmmm

[asienieizi.livejournal.com]

That black olive ice cream looks extremely interesting and something I'd definately try.
Oh and Happy Birthday Old Man!~

[missionista.livejournal.com]

Happy Birthday! The meal sounds great (overall), and the mere thought of black olive ice cream has me salivating. Mmmmmm, black olives. Mmmmmmm, ice cream. How could this possibly be a bad combo?

[mdyesowitch.livejournal.com]

Seconded! (or Thirded, or something that involves cheering for black olive ice cream.)

[kawgirl.livejournal.com]

Mmmm. Sounds like a lovely meal overall. I'm glad you had a good birthday dinner!

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

I get bothered when people dress sloppily to go to a nice restaurant, too. Modern society dresses like it just rolled out of bed in nearly every area of public life these days, it would be nice if some folks made an occasion of it and dressed appropriately. I'm not asking guys to know the difference between a homburg and a fedora, but PUT ON A COLLLARED SHIRT when you go to a nice place! Don't get me started on the ladies.

[twillis.livejournal.com]

Huh. Big Guy's birthday was last week, also. We didn't do anything quite so fancy, though. Because we are boring old fogies.

[eb-oesch.livejournal.com]

Bathrooms smelling like piss? Michelin's ain't gonna like that. I was half-impressed, half-puzzled by the swank bathroom (actual towels instead of the paper kind, don't remember the rest) at a fancy restaurant (Era Ora in Copenhagen) until I read an interview with a chef who called Michelin's "the pink bathroom inspector's guide". (Yes, the food was good too, and it still amazes me that I could spend $100 on a bottle of wine without feeling ripped off afterwards -- I'm not sure how much of that was the wine and how much was the food and the setting, but I'm sure the wine was at least part of it.)

Also, the chocolate castle that my ex had for her birthday, at Krogen, could bombard your puny chocolate sphere to smithereens.

I think I have now name-dropped the two fanciest restaurants I ever ate at, though I look forward to staging similar sprees at fine dining institutions like McDonalds at the next occasion of similar magnitude, though at this point I do not expect to find any additional events worth celebrating in the dregs of my miserable life.

Also also, I think that at the point we're at, the quality of your food has little to do with the quality of your life, except where nutrition is concerned. Eat nicer food, get higher standards, like the rich people at the fancy restaurant looking sour and jaded while presumably eating fantastic food.

Also again, I think the "it takes ten times as much energy to eat meat as vegetables" claim is pretty well busted when you look at the price of these things in the grocery store. At least in Maryland, it's often the fruit that costs more. There are probably some weird and transitory market forces at work, but there's more to it than that.

Hope the hand's better or at least improving. If you don't see a problem with the way the injury happened, then that's great, you don't need a sideline safety nanny to say otherwise. That's another article, but very few sports are as dangerous as sitting home watching teevee (poor diet and physical inactivity (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-03/jaaj-pda030404.php)), let alone smoking. Most safety nannies don't understand safety very well, and if they're discussing sports they don't understand you can upgrade "most" to "all".

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

While the execution of this dessert was excellent, and i give it bonus points for the black olive ice cream, it still ranks second to the Fire and Ice i had at Terra (http://ronebofh.livejournal.com/180776.html). In fact, i'd say our meal and experience at Terra was better than our meal at Alexander's, and at a much lower cost (even if we're talking 2004 dollars).

The hands are mostly usable, but not at 100%, and i wonder if they'll ever even approach 90%. I am ready to resume soccer-related activities for my next session, probably the second week of December, and the missus is none too happy about it, but i will be careful, because i know that i do not want to have to undergo thumb surgery.

[bungo.livejournal.com]

Sounds a somewhat overwhelming collision of flavours[1], unless you spread it out over four hours. HB2U though.

[1] especially with inter-course tinkle.