USA 17 - The Second Best Meal of My Life, Elizabeth's on 37th

"What the hell is that for??" I ask my dining companion, and fellow food freak (see previous post), Jordan - I was more than a little high and mighty as I looked down my nose at the basket of warm scones (or biscuits in yank speak) with butter and marmalade the waitress had just popped on the table.

"Mate, we've just ordered the 7 course degustation (or "Tasting Menu" they call it here - they're not as posh as us, clearly)!!!

Jordan looked straight at me and said..

"This (points to the scone) is to remind you of where you came from. This (referring to the Tasting Menu) is to remind you where you're going".

Excellent point, Jordan. A philosophising foodie and scones to start the meal - I knew I was in for something special. I reached for a "biscuit".

It was heavenly. But not as heavenly as our amuse bouche - the first of seven courses (then dessert) we were to have that night.

We started with the "Triple Primi" - three little bites of food with so much flavour the moans began in earnest there and then. I hate mussels. I don't eat them. Fear of food poisoning and rubber is just so unappetising. Well, readers, this mussel was the most amazing mussel EVER. One mussel with a spicy smoked tomato aoli (Mussel Pompei) - melted in my mouth, then the wonderful tomato concasse on top..so zingy, so flavourful, so red and wonderful...we were in ecstasy. And for those who have heard me enjoy a meal - picture me by about 5 times and you have my fellow food freak. It was magic.

The other two mouthfuls were almost equally as spectacular - a choux pastry with cheese and caper just exploded in your mouth with wonderful tangy light creamy cheese, and the salmon with ginger and wasabi was light and packed a little punch. Now, you won't see any pics from this course because we were too riled up in gastronomic ecstasy that I forgot to take one. Bugger.

In fact, the soup, the next course, was on a par with the first course, and the excitement levels did not diminish, hence rendering my camera once again forgotten. Sigh. The soup. It was something us aussies are pretty used to - a Thai chicken broth with coconut milk, saffron, lime and mint...but oooooooh so much more. They poured the broth tableside over the most tender local chicken morsels, and as he poured my nostrils filled with a scent I wrote down as "Thai toffee" - it seemed to have this sweet toffee smell mixed in with our usual coconut lime scents used in Thai cooking. If I could have I would have dabbed it on and used it was perfume. It was sublime. No other words. My companion wholeheartedly agreed.

By this time, I had moved into the most anticipatory state I have ever achieved for a Degustation. As each plate was deftly whisked away, I just sat there gleefully clapping my hands wondering what was coming next.

Now third course, was in fact, my least favourite. It was a bit 70s and the cheese (Americans love their cheddars) overpowered the other flavours unfortunately. It was local shrimp with farmer's cheese, green tomato and wild mushroom in a paremsan and cornmeal basket. We both agreed the cheese was overpowering, so we sort of deconstructed it and ate the little bits on their own - this was marvellous, the real flavour of the shrimp and that mushroom came out beautifully, and the oohs and aaaahs were seamless.

During all this, our wonderful "Captain" brought us a few wines to taste with the courses, he was a magician and my poor uncultured palate could actually understand the pairings...thank you, Captain, you made the night extra extra special.

So, for those of you who haven't gone to sleep yet with all this boring food talk. Here's the fourth course...and there's a pic! Yep, it's a Black-Eyed Pea Patty - black-eyed peas with wild rice and garlic lightly breaded and grilled and wacked on steamed local collards in a raspberry vinaigrette with a cream curry sauce. CRIKEY!!!! It was sensational.

Both Jordan and I were getting a little hysterical by this time...over stimulated taste buds I suspect! Luckily the rest of the restaurant was clearing, because I was starting to swear - that happens when things are really really really good.

Soooooooooooo...out comes number 5. Housegrown salad. We thought we were in a for a break, I mean what can you do with a salad, right??!! WRONG!!! You can see it above, it looks innocent enough (in fact you only see about one third of it, we were so carried away by the flavour, that again, the camera was completely forgotten). It was BLOODY SPECTACULAR. AMAZING. DIVINELY WONDERFUL. Greens and herbs from their own garden out the front with their own vinaigrette, slither of local fresh rockmelon - the sweetest and most flavourful rockmelon I have ever eaten, and just a tiny sprinkling of goats cheese. TO DIE FOR. Thank you god for this salad combination.

The next course, number 6, arrived as we were still talking herbs. Our Captain had brought us in a selection of herbs from their garden and we were tasting and pondering...the Marsh Marigold was my favourite, an intense anise flavour on such a little green leaf. I've never seen or heard of it before. Wonderful herb.

So, number 6. I'm going to keep it short because a)You are probably bored to death with food talk and b)I need as much space as I can for the final dish (final before dessert that is). For our sixth course we demolished local black seabass - broiled and topped with local shrimp in a herb butter with sweet corn pudding and a vege saute sauce. This was really delicious, but we had to eat the corn pudding separately, again, it had a strong cheddar in it I think and it overpowered the other flavours a little. But on it's own...oh my...SPECTACULAR!


By this stage, Jordan and I had reached fever pitch hysteria...comments like "I just put far too much in my mouth... and it's incredible", and "You could kill somebody with this amount of food" to which I replied "Yeah, but what a glorious death!" Those sorts of comments. One comment was made which I'd love to put in here - I think it beautifully summed up the dinner...but alas it is a little shocking (and I want to maintain my pure image) - you can ask Jordan or I when you see us!

So, final course...just as a little aside, when this dish was put down in front of me, I immediately said to our wonderful waitress, "go and tell the chef now, before I taste it, that I will only be able to eat one third of this. I don't want him to think I don't like it, it's just that I'm full. Go and tell him now". And she did.

I ate every single thing on the plate (I had no bone in mine, Jordan did, he left that!).

Without doubt the best pork I have ever eaten (including bbq)...drum roll please...the most DIVINEEEEEEEEEEE and INCREDIBLY SEXY Berkshire porkchop, done in a way I'm not even going to guess - although I think Jordan had wangled the recipe from our Captain...it was served with a five cheese macaroni (there's that mac and cheese thing again), and the most to-die-for apple cabbage slaw that cut the richness of the pork beautifully. This dish was just as you imagine heaven to be, if it were pork.

Now readers, this post is ridiculously long, far too detailed, and has made me so bloody hungry, I have to step out now. Dessert was fine - not amazing - but good. We shared a pretty darn good Angel Cake Trifle and coconut cheesecake with pineapple - you can see how bad it is from the pic above, and how sad we look having to eat it!

For those that are now asleep, I'm sorry. For those that have water dripping from their gobs...go and book a table at this very very special place.

Thank you to Tina, Captain and of course Jordan, for the second best meal of my life.

And a very special thank you to the wonderful Marjorie who, I realised, sent me this recommendation when I met her and her mate in an Atlanta cafe. THANK YOU.

I'll leave you with one of our final dinner comments:

Me: I'm going to be sick tonight..(as I forked in more and more pork chop when I should have stopped at about the first mouthful)
Jordan: Me too. And it's going to be glorious.

Bloody magic night, magic.