Foodie experience

For Matt's Christmas present I promised him a night out at a nice restaurant for some actual Kobe steak or whatever type of cuisine he chose. We looked at a variety of steakhouses but ended up settling on Nobu, a Japanese-Peruvian fusion restaurant at the Crescent Hotel in Dallas. We ended up doing a chef's tasting menu which is 5 courses of chef's choice house specialties. We had the choice of seating, including a chef's table in the kitchen! (I didn't choose it but maybe next time we will.)

Warning: this is all going to sound very pretentious but it was so good that I feel like describing as fully as I can. If you're not a foodie, you might wanna skip this blog entry.

Course one: salmon tartare with minced shallots and garlic in a wasabi soy infusion, topped with osetra caviar, accompanied by a palate cleansing Japanese bayberry. This dish was served in little saucer, surrounded by ice in a larger bowl. It came with a little spoon, and the recommendation from the chef that we cut down through the entire tower to experience the levels of flavor. It was so delicate, yet intensely flavorful and melted in my mouth. Perfect! Mine was a bit saltier than I like, mostly because I don't like a lot of soy sauce, but it was still really good. This was Matt's favorite presentation of the evening.

Course two: yellowtail sashimi with jalapeno in a citrus gastrique. This was the most finely sliced yellowtail I've ever experienced. It was evenly textured throughout, no tendons or sinews anywhere, and was so incredibly smooth. The waiter asked at the start of the meal if there were any special dietary considerations to be aware of, and since I'm (now officially) allergic to peppers and chilis of any kind, I said no spicy foods. Matt, however, loves spicy- the hotter the better- and the chef made sure to leave out any spicy ingredients on my dishes, and include them on Matt's. I thought that was pretty awesome. Anyway, yellowtail has always been my favorite sushi/sashimi choice, and this one certainly didn't disappoint. The gastrique had a very tart citrus tang to it, and blended beautifully with the taste of the fish and the (rather hearty) cilantro leaf atop each slice. Not ony was it a beautiful dish, it tasted as good as it looked. This one was my favorite of the evening.

Third course was a panko friend shrimp entree. Perfectly cooked shrimp in a crisp panko crust were served on a bed of radicchio, watercress and frisee, tossed in a lemon thyme spicy sauce (on Matt's plate- mine was minus the cayenne, thankfully). This was a nice texture change, flavorful, light yet filling, and perfectly proportioned. We both liked it, but though fried shrimp was perhaps a popular dish, if not signature.

Fourth course: sushi- tuna, whitefish, tamago and freshwater eel. I consider these pretty "basic" sushi, but the cut of tuna was extraordinary. THe whitefish REALLY surprised me- I'd never ordered it anywhere before, thinking "eugh, whitefish! How mealy and bland!" It was anything but that. It was surprisingly flavorful and the texture had much more body than I had expected- it was chewier, like a white tuna texture, than the fish-stick texture I had expected. It was a pleasant surprise, enough that I think I may be ordering whitefish in the future. The eel was delicious of course- no gristly skin or fat strips hanging onto it- it was perfectly trimmed and sauced. The tamago (sweet egg) was odd. Neither Matt nor I were a fan of that one. It was just not something our palates have adapted to yet I suppose. Sweet + egg = ick in our opinions.

Fifth course: mochi green tea and mochi blueberry ice cream. This was incredible! I was thrilled with this dish. Had it not been for the yellowtail, I'd have said this was my favorite course. The two ice cream flavors were served in a little boule shape, wrapped in a thin mochi layer. I have had mochi balls, which I loved (thanks to the wookie), so I made them for my Matt one day. They were good, but not as good as the others I'd tried. Matt could not eat them. It's the only food I've ever prepared for him that he couldn't have a third bite of, so when Matt heard "mochi" in the title of the fifth course, he was not thrilled. However, after the first taste he said it was incredible. The mochi was think enough that it didn't take over the dish, and the ice cream inside was made in-house, and didn't have a trace of ice in it. It was so smooth, so rich and tasted just like you'd hope it would (but rarely does). Blueberry ice cream was so incredible. The green tea was good too, but I have an affinity for blueberries , so it won. What a great end to the meal!

For cocktails Matt had a Japanese whiskey (very nice) and I had a Peruvian caipairhina, and then an Emporio martini (made with sake, gin, and lychee and ginger syrups). Sparkling water was available tableside, and my glass never ran empty before- there were attentive waiters who didn't hover. It was a wonderful dining experience. Dining at Nobu was $$$$$ but worth every bit.

Now for a rather mundane start to the day- scrambled eggs and bacon, but I'm doing a nice pot of English tea so that'll balance it out. :)