Anniversary Dinner

For our tenth wedding anniversary, Brian and I took a trip to New York City to have dinner, catch a show and stay in a fancy hotel.  It was fantastic!  I've already summed up the rest of the trip on my other blog so now it's time for all who've been waiting to hear about it, the food!

We stayed at "The London" on W 54th.  Very impressive, simple and beautiful hotel.  It is also the home of not one but two of Gordon Ramsay's Restaurants.  Yes....Gordon Ramsay, as in "Hell's Kitchen."  I don't watch the show but I have heard plenty about it and have several friends that do.  I have heard enough about the show to know that he yells a lot and one friend of mine asked me (after proclaiming her intense jealousy) if I had any urges to call anyone a "stupid donkey" while I was there.  Well...no.  No, I did not!  :)

There are two restaurants on-site.  One is fancier (albeit more expensive) and the other one is smaller and more intimate. We chose the smaller one, which is called Maze.  After perusing the menu we opted for the "Tasting Menu" which consisted of five courses including dessert.

First Course:  Sweet Corn Soup with Shrimp and Nectarine.  These are flavors I would never think of putting together, but they paired very well!  The sweetness was perfect and not over-the-top.  I actually found myself wanting another bowl.

Second Course:  Watermelon Salad with Tomato and Feta.  Again, three things I'd never put together but this was soooo refreshing.  I'd make this for a summer party for sure. 

Third Course:  Roasted Sea Scallop with English Peas and Tomatoes.  Clearly the biggest roast scallop I have ever seen!!  It was cooked perfectly with no rubber-like texture.  There was just enough butter to moisten it, and the peas and baby tomatoes were a lovely accompaniment.

Fourth Course:  Split Menu.  Brian chose the steak and I opted for the salmon.  The steak came with pommes anna, and "spiced eggplant."  It was more like an eggplant puree, which Brian politely declined.  My salmon came with butternut squash and gnocchi.  The salmon was perfect!  I guess I'm not a gnocchi fan though, I've tried it a couple of times and I'm just not into it. 

Final Course:   The Dessert.  Brian chose a chocolate pudding-like concoction infused with cardamom, with almond ice cream on the side.  Mmmmm.......just like the center of a molten chocolate cake!  And the almond ice cream was obviously fresh, and definitely something I'd like to taste again.  My dessert was a custard cream with fresh berries and strawberry sorbet.  Again, very fresh sorbet, I'm usually not a fan of strawberry liquids or desserts but this was incredible. 

So, in conclusion I'd say that dinner was excellent.  Not the best meal of my life (which was a discussion had at dinner, we challenged each other to name the best dinner we'd ever had in the past ten years!) but certainly delicious.  The tasting menu made me feel like a celebrity judge!