What an amazing meal can do

On Saturday night I treated myself and a date to a dinner at Veritas and it was an experience that everyone should have at least once in their lives (hopefully many more). I picked Veritas because I had been on a business trip to visit the Chilean wineries with one of the sommeliers, Patrick Cappiello.

My goodness, were we treated well. The menu was small enough to make a choice easy, but there were so many amazing sounding dishes. I chose a seared fois gras, my date chose the langoustine roti. My fois gras was fantastic and it really highlighted for me what the combination of a great chef and very talented sommelier staff can produce. With the fois gras I was poured a Volnay, a really great choice and not one I would have expected. Usually I would expect a sweeter white wine, but the Volnay was perfect! The smoked flavor in the wine hit the exact right note with the seared flavors. Then there was a linguini dish that came out, made with chestnuts and topped with white truffles. With that we were poured a Piedmont, a nebbiolo based wine. Again, melt in your seat perfection. The tastes complimented each other perfectly.

My entree was Duck a l'Orange, with which I was served a young Chateau Talbot (2005). My mother actually has about half a case of the '78 in her basement and another half case of the '89 for my brother. I think I was on food overload. I wasn't nearly as impressed with this pairing as I was with the others, but it was still great food and wine.

When we were done we could barely move. We paid the bill (ok, I paid the bill and yes it was quite expensive, but well worth it), thanked Patrick for such a good meal and making sure he thanked the Chef for us, and left. We were stuffed and decided that the only way to unstuff was to walk the two miles home. I was nearly asleep in a food coma the entire way.

This was one of those meals that I will probably remember for many years to come. The company was good, the food was amazing, and the service helpful but unintrusive. It is an experience you pay for and you feel good about it. I don't know if I could do it again anytime soon, but I'm glad I went. There is probably no where else in the US that takes dinning as seriously as New York. From the very high end like Veritas to the very low end junk food pizza place. Being from Philly, we take our junk food very seriously. My favorite spot is a shack on a corner that sells the best, greasiest cheese steaks in the world. "One, wit, wizz" and you're on your way with a heart attack in your hands.

I can see how fine dinning can be a difficult draw in harder economic times, but hopefully there are enough people in New York who understand that this experience is worth the cost. Just not every night...