Turning 40

For my birthday, David arranged for us to go to New York on Saturday morning and stay at The Quin Hotel. The hotel was gorgeous!

There was a media art display in the lobby. Each television was individually programmed. The photographs moved and changed. Just stunning. 

We got an upgrade to a premier suite.  (Thanks to David and his UBS connections!) This was the front room (past the 1/2 bath).

Everything was run with electronics. See the ipad looking device on the night stand? You could change the lighting (all on, all off, mood lighting, etc) and the shades (just sheer, all drapes down, all up, etc.) with this device. There was music, sleeping sounds, weather, news, anything you might need while traveling. It was really neat. The bed was really comfortable too. 

We had a full bathroom too with marble countertops, a tub, separate toilet and shower and all the nice toiletries. There was even a heavy silver box to hold the kleenex. 

We even had a succulent in the shower. 

It was a nice hotel. We got there about lunch time so we stopped in and had lunch at Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud’s casual bistro.   

I had the Salade Nicoise: seared yellowfin tuna, olives, haricots verts, baby greens, potato, egg, anchovy dressing. David had the Frenchie Burger: 7 oz of black angus beef, pork belly confit roasted tomato, raclette cheese argula, black pepper bun dijon mustard, french fries. Delicious!

We walked around New York, did a little shopping, and went back to the hotel to drop some things off.  When we walked in, we saw this! They had set up a birthday surprise complete with a hand written note from the manager.  SO NICE!! We were shocked.  

We went out shopping again to find David a shirt that he wanted from Brooks Brothers and came back and got ready for dinner that night.  

We had dinner at Le Bernardin. This was really my birthday gift. I wanted to eat there and I picked the place, but as it got closer I started to get nervous that we were out of our league. I was nervous. But as soon as we walked in, every minute was PERFECT!  The atmosphere was more comfortable and inviting than I imaged. We got a great table in the center of the room. We didn't have to sit right next to someone.  It couldn't have been better.  (Mom, they had the purse chairs we love.) 

We had the chef tasting menu and David told me to take a photo of each course, but I only took a few. So I'll try to steal a few photos on line to give you an example.  The first thing to come out was the amuse bouche: a tuna tartare with a crisp and little spice, an oyster with piquillo peppers and a cauliflower soup with a truffle cheese crisp.  SO GOOD!   I couldn't find a photo of this. My guess is it changes often.  But it was similar to this:

DIVER SCALLOP-SEA URCHIN
Diver Scallops; Marinated Granny Smith
Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
Assyrtiko, Argyros Estate, Santorini, Greece 2013

Another "stolen" photo, but this is similar to what we had. We had diver scallop instead of bay scallop. It came out with little toasts in a holder. The uni was so good! We got two small uni and a few less scallops. The photo is a little different than what we had.  The tiny cubes of  apple were so small. You didn't even think "we are eating apple." The bits just all came together in a perfect flavor. The attention to the details is just astounding.  We marveled at the perfectly cut apples, each one exactly like the next ... such a small thing.  It's just an example of the meticulous details.  

KING FISH-CAVIAR
Warm King Fish “Sashimi”; Osetra Caviar
Light Marinière Broth
Yuki No Bosha, Yamahai Junmai Sake

The fish came out followed by another server with a small container of a rich butter sauce.  SO GOOD!  Every bite delicious. We mopped up the remaining sauce with bread.

They came around from time to time with bread.  We tried the sundried tomato and fennel, the pumpernickel and the baguette. 

LANGOUSTINE
Sautéed Langoustine; Truffle and Chanterelle
Aged Balsamic Vinaigrette
Chardonnay, Côtes du Jura, “En Griffez”, Domaine L’Aigle A Deux Tetes, Jura, France 2012

Next was the langoustine.  Something I was excited about. I'd never had a langoustine before. DELICIOUS!!  The sauce on this one was particularly good too.  I think it was about this point, David said, I don't have a favorite!  Every bite is as good as the next or better.  It's true. Everything had such a unique taste.  Every bite was perfect. We cleaned every plate. 

I should also say at this point, we had a GREAT server. He was fun and funny. Made us feel very comfortable. Not stuffy at all.  But extremely professional.  We got an entire new set of silverware for every course. Touched or untouched, someone came in swept them up and right behind them someone laid down a new set.  We commented it was like the room was choreographed.  There was an astounding server to patron ratio. Servers were moving in and out of the narrow walkways carrying trays and plates, never a near miss, never a stumble. It was impressive.  

LOBSTER
Lobster “Lasagna”; Celeriac, Truffle Butter
Cava, “Gran Reserva Barrica”, Agustí Torelló Mata, Catalonia, Spain 2007

The lobster lasagna came out like the others and the sauce was poured over it at the table.  More bread for getting every last delicious drop of the sauce!

BLACKFISH
Pan Roasted Blackfish; Sautéed Cepes, Pearl Onions à la Crème
Lemon-Paprika Sauce
Fleurie, Clos de la Grand’Cour, Jean-Louis Dutraive, Beaujolais, France 2013

This was ACTUALLY my photo! That's pureed potato on the bottom. The fish came out with potato, mushroom and chives.  Then someone poured in the red paprika sauce. Then our server came behind and gently spooned each onion into place.  He took some of the sauce the onion was in and made the beautiful design.  All in a matter of seconds.  All without feeling like people were hovering over your shoulder.  I can't really tell you how amazing the  service was. I've never seen anything like it.  And this was, of course, delicious.

WHITE TUNA-KOBE BEEF
Grilled Escolar and Seared Wagyu Beef; Fresh Kimchi
Asian Pear, Soy-Lemon Emulsion
Barolo, Cascina Fontana, Piedmont, Italy 2009

This doesn't photograph as lovely as it was.  The tuna with pear, light and refreshing. The kobe beef in a korean bbq sauce was so tender. Rich and fatty.  Delicious!  And very nice after all of the fish. Such a different flavor.  The grilled escolar with kimchi roll with delicious. "Hey, it's our veggie," David remarked. I hadn't even noticed it was our first (and only) green vegetable. 

And then it was time for dessert. 

PEAR
Roasted Bosc Pear; Pear William-Olive Oil Emulsion
Vanilla Parfait
Poiré Granit, Eric Bordelet, Normandy, France 2013

MAPLE
Maple Candy Cap Crémeux, Maple, Huckleberry Confit
Dow’s “Quinta do Bomfim” Single Quinta, Portugal 2001

This was another photo that I actually took.  Maple, maple, maple.  It was so good!  I don't think I've had huckleberry before. Delicious!

David had mentioned it was my birthday. so they brought out vanilla ice cream and chocolate ganache with the maple course.  

I went to the bathroom after this course and I must have dropped my napkin on the floor. When I came back and sat down David said he  wished I had seen it. Before I had even taken a few steps away from the table someone had scooped up the napkin and someone brought a new napkin on a silver tray.  He slid it off the tray onto the table as not to touch it  with his hands. Service, service, service.  

Our last surprise was like a dessert amuse bouche.  A plate with a pistachio macaroon, a square that tasted like gingerbread, a chocolate truffle and a gelee.  Similar to this one:

The whole dinner was about three hours and we left stuffed and happy. It couldn't have been a better experience. Absolutely perfect. Definitely the best meal I have ever had.  I memorable 40th birthday! 

Sunday morning we went to Hillsong NYC.  We had friends from church who went there about a year ago and said it was really good.  We had been wanting to go.  We got up and checked out and grabbed a breakfast sandwich.  After climbing seven flights of stairs to get to the room, we sat in the back row.  The music was great as you would expect from Hillsong. Before we knew it the balcony was full and they were adding rows behind us. It was so nice to see so many young people there that early in the morning. They had a special speaker,  Levi Lusko, who was fabulous!  Some great lessons learned. I was so glad we got to finish the trip with this experience. 

We were pretty worn out on Sunday so we left early. Grabbed lunch at Grand Central. Greek salad for me and tomato mozzarella sandwich for David. Then we were back home by 4:30.  And in bed by 8:00 like always.  It was a perfect birthday weekend! Couldn't have gone better.