First, I’d start out with a casear salad with all sorts of veggies and stuff thrown in, including those parts of hard boiled egg.
Then, for an appetizer I’d try, for the first time, a plate that has about 3 frog legs on it and 3 peices of escargot.
The main course would be filet mignon, roasted potatoes and herbs, broccoli and cheese, and a side dish of caviar.
For dessert, triple layered cherry cheesecake (I have no idea if there is such a thing in existence, but if it is, I’d imagine it would be VERY expensive. Very expensive and very delicious).
The beverage would be just plan old Ginger ale. Canada Dry.
Now tell me your culinary fantasies. If money didn’t matter, what would you be serving up for dinner?
If money didn’t matter, I wouldn’t be serving anything–the waiter would be doing that.
Personally, I’ve always been a person of simple tastes–who also hates vegetables, especially cooked, so many fancy meals don’t appeal to me. Me, I’d just be having deep-fried haddock and fries, though I’d have to make a trip at least an hour out of town to find a place that cooks the fish properly. Some of the restaurants here cook it well, but the batter is usually too thick. Drink would be some form of pop–perhaps a Shirly Temple. I’d be too stuffed with fish for anything after.
The alternative would be a turkey dinner, with wine to drink. And chocolate truffles for dessert.
Here’s what we did have for dinner this past Thursday, at a sort of French wine tasting dinner at a Yacht Club at one of our southern beaches:
Escargot of Lobster en Croute (bits of lobster meat in a souffle/puff pastry in garlic butter) with a 2003 Louis Jadot Pouilly-Fuisse.
Potage aux Champignons (a nice little cup of mushroom soup with some whole chantrelles and topped with a dollop of creme fraiche) with a 2000 Mouiex St. Emilion.
Salad Nicoise (fresh field greens, with steamed vegetables and seared ahi tuna) paired with Chateau St. Jacques Moulin-a-Vent 1999.
Duck breast aux cerises with risotto piedmont and fresh spinach with cream. This was matched with Louis Jadot Gevrey Chambertin 2002.
Grilled Paillards du Bouef (beef filets) with red wine and port sauce reduction, braised red cabbage and gratin dauphinois. This was matched with another 2000 Bordeaux, a Chateau Coufran from the Haut Medoc.
For dessert we had Remy Martin 1738 and a sabayon with fresh berries. These went very nicely together.
Since there was some remaining Remy and my friend had some cigars we retired out to the dock to enjoy the cool evening, some cognac and $17 cigars.
I would have liked the duck medium rare instead of medium well, and I like my
“pommes” without the cheese but it was still a very nice meal. Excellent in fact, if not quite perfect. There was also a fresh mango sorbet as an “intermezzo” (after the salad), and we also snuck in a glass of LJ Pommard (1999) and Nuit St. Georges (2002) when there was a spare moment.
Mrs. Shibb and I had the above for a tip to the servers. So money wasn’t really an option.
Hmm. Can I come? Then we can swing over to NYC and go to Masa afterwards! I have to say I’m pretty certain my ultimate meal would involve sushi, but the French Laundry is also, well, impossible to pass up, if I ever had the opportunity.
I’ll start with a typical Sharks Fin and abalone soup.
Onto the Roast Panda slices.
Some lobster in butter would be nice.
Maybe a wild tiger for the main.
And grilled Platypus to finish off.
Expensive finger foods. Prominently figured would be caviar, shrimp and Brie.
The best quality fruits, slices of pineapple, brilliant red really ripe strawberries, raspberries, and so on, with a little heavy cream to pour over, if desired.
Assorted chocolates for dessert.
Good champagne. Much good champagne, to wash everything down with.
ShibbOleth That sounded divine! I really need to meet you and the misses and rub noses with people who eat food like that! (that’s code for, “hook me up with some hotties”).
I live so close to you, where on earth did you go to eat such yummies? I’m in Port Richey.
My favorite food is lobster, plain is fine by me or fancy. Crab legs are way yummy too. I’ve got nothing against any red meat medium rare, yum. A platter of all fruits would be great. Most anything sweet and chocolately I adore. I’m a rather simple eater, but fancy that stuff up, and I’m right there ready to give it a go. I don’t really drink though, so I’ll wash it all down with just water or a Coke.
That’s too bad, there’s a really nice microbrewery in Spring Hill. BTW, my daughter’s soccer game was at the J. Mitchell Field complex in west Pasco this past Saturday. Sadly they got pasted.
E-mail me and I’ll tell you were we ate; it’s the southernmost YC in Pinellas county, but I don’t want to get my friend in trouble by “outing” him here. He’s the GM there.
Oh, if money is no “option”, then you can find decent French at the Clearwater Hotel which is on North Clearwater Beach. A Frenchman recommended it to me, so it can’t be too bad.
You should have been at my folk’s place in Largo on New Year’s Eve. Aside from the copious amounts of bubbly (which would have been wasted on you) we had a big seafood fest. Many pounds of stone crab claws, mussels, scallops, shrimp, you name it. There were a lot of leftovers.
