A long time ago, at the wedding of two friends of mine, I managed to drink an entire bottle of Veuve Cliquot Grand Dame, totally by accident. This was a vintage version of the wine too. Worth over $200 at the store.
Anyway, 7 years later, to the day, I was crafty enough to arrange to have that couple arrive at their anniversary dinner, at Bish, to find a chilled bottle of the same bubbly waiting for them. At last, I had made good on my original accidental gluttony!
But then about 4 months later, an envelope was found in my porch, and inside was a $200 gift certificate to that same Bishy place.
The thing went unused for almost 2 years, but last Saturday, we finally got out and spent the sucker.
Bish has a reputation about town of being pretty expensive, and it lived up to that. I also learned that it is actually called "Bish World Cuisine"! Our server was great, and managed to match our celebratory tone with a very non-intrusive manner, while still being still friendly and open.
We had invited along R&R, because they had taken us out one evening last winter, and we owed them. After a pre-dinner bit of Cremant de Limoux bubbly from Premier Wine and Spirits (very very nice - if you don't want to pop for champagne, this may be the best fallback position in town), we headed downtown. Right down to the water's edge.
Snagging the corner table, and a bottle of Kim Crawford Pinot Gris, we set out to select our meal as the snow started to really collect outside.
I ordered the smoked salmon carpaccio, the red ravioli with fromage blanc, and the veal chop, with truffled wild mushroom sauce, butter roasted potato and asparagus. A meal was on the way.
Other things that came to the table included mussels Normandie et frites; Roasted leek and ginger soup; Ginger marinated scallops on pea shoot salad with peanut vinaigrette; Sea bass, bitter orange, wilted greens and almond raisin couscous; Sesame seared tuna served RARE, "risi e bisi" and pea shoots; Baked halibut with pancetta and marsala, sautéed spinach and butter roasted potatoes..... you get the picture. We pigged out.
A bottle of Babich Pinot Noir arrived somewhere in there too. A night for New Zealand wine, I guess. Though I have to admit I was somewhat surprised at how small the wine list was, and how few choices there were from wines made to go with food. There seems to be a lot of Australian wine, which I tend to regard mostly as a drink on its own, as most lacks any acidity worthy of accompanying $35 entrees.
My meal was excellent, with the exception of the ravioli. I don't know, perhaps that is the original way that the dish is supposed to be, but the filling tasted just like one of those herbed cream cheese appetizers you thaw out for guests you don't like. It tasted very "canned". The salmon was great, served with creme fraiche, the way I like it, and some green sauce dribbled in a pattern to match the creme. My veal chop was done just right, and was tasty. The potatos were perfect, and the truffled jus aromatic and deep dark full of shroomy goodness.
So then we still found room for dessert. I had the Pound cake, espresso ice cream, warm dulce de leche sandwich with crushed chocolate espresso beans. It was huge, but I ate it in 3 seconds. OK, 30.... Well, I did not take my time.
The other desserts tried were the chocolate cake, creme brulée and the chocolate almond torte. No one complained.
Now the hard part was the bill. I think it ended up, with tip to be well over $500. Darn good thing I was pre-certified with my $200 discount! And we almost walked out having only tipped on the residual amount of the bill minus the certificate. Ooops! Great service and we would have stiffed him for almost half what we meant to tip. Cash, as usual, solves pretty well anything.
Then it was off in the storm to the Henry House to watch Irish people drink. At least I got to chat to a red headed wine loving fiddle player who I know, for a bit. But full bellies and a morning hockey game dictated an escape. After our $500 meal, taking the bus home seemed so very appropriate.
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