"I came, I saw, I Laundered."

We enter the restaurant (precisely on time) and discover that our table is not yet ready and we must wait. This gives us time to take a good hard look at the place before we are swept away to our secluded table. The thing we begin to notice is that nobody is rushing around in a harried state - at all. All the front of the house staff are quite calm and dignified. There is NO, repeat NO, annoying phone ringing with a host or hostess jabbering away, while making diners wait to "check in." Instead you have everyone speaking quietly and moving efficiently (you really are afraid to raise your voice in there...it may bruise the food).

In the relative quiet I notice that everyone who checked in a coat at the front of the house, is getting their exact coat back. No tickets, writs, or "Could you point it out for me?" They are remembering everybody's coats without being told.

20 minutes pass. Clearly, there are two people in the dining room who just are not willing to leave the place - a sentiment I came to fully understand that night.

Our table is ready. To console us for having waited - two glasses of champagne are graciously offered...which we are more than happy to accept!

Menus are brought. We choose our path. And then a steady stream of food begins to arrive at the table.

Now, at this moment I have to tell you I'm beginning to get a little worried. My spouse has the palette of a grumpy 6 year old. There are many many many things he will not eat. All of them are on the menu for dinner and are about to be set before him, at considerable expense. Caviar, oysters, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, olives - they're all on the evening's menu and the hubby's "uh-uh" list. I remind him delicately that he can't send them back and say, "What else ya got?" The antiperspirant/deodorant begins to kick in. More champagne, please??

The amuse-bouches arrives. Two pate-a-choux puffs filled with gruyere custard are first, quickly followed up with yes - the cute little salmon tartare in corniches that look exactly like little mini ice cream cones! They're amazing!! Then the aforementioned butter and the evening's first choice of fresh breads arrive. It was a wheat sour dough I believe, and fabulous with the butters.

Now the real food starts arriving.

Course 1: "Oysters and Pearls"...Sabayon of Pearl Tapioca with Beau Soleil Oysters and White Sturgeon Caviar. Hubby, who would ordiniarly make a face a 6 year old would be impressed with - scarfs it down....remarking that maybe oysters and caviar are good after all.

Course 2. We've chosen two different options. Hubby went with "Salad of Glazed Sunchokes, Navel Orange "Confite", Pine Nuts, Arugula and Nicoise Olive Puree". He loves it. I wisely went with: "Moulard duck FOIE GRAS Poele with Braised Belgian Endive, Granola, Yogurt and Gros Michel Banana Gastrique". I don't need to tell you how good it was...you can guess. I will mention that the bananas were the tiniest little brunoise dice I have ever seen. They must have ants back there with tiny little Global knives doing the prep work.

Course 3: Columbia River Sturgeon "Confit a la Minute", Roasted Broccolini, Hen-of-the-Woods Mushrooms, and "Sauce Beurre Rouge." This gets a chuckle out of me since I think we did a pop-quiz "Make a beurre blanc or rouge - you have 5 minutes!" every few days in culinary school.

This turned out to be our favorite course. We really weren't expecting much from a fish course but we were (and still are) completely amazed by the texture of the fish. There simply is no way to describe it. It was unlike anything I've ever eaten. It was sublime. We couldn't stop commenting on it.

Speaking of comments. By this time in the meal I've said about a dozen involuntary "Oh wow!s" I hear the same coming from every table within ear shot. Conversations stop, the first bite of a new course it taken, and involuntarily people just have to say, "Oh wow - the texture of this is unbelievable!"

Now we are visited by the sommelier who's properly prepping us for the next few courses. We have to decide which red and white we're opting for. Because the lobster and chicken courses are coming next, he suggests a Puligny-Montrachet (yes, from Le Montrachet!). I was honestly expecting him to hype heavy-duty super-oaky Chards from Napa, since that's where we were...but he doesn't. He goes with a mildly minerally choice instead...to counterbalance the rich food. I'm impressed. The wine is glorious. The hubby, who doesn't do wine - ALSO says its glorious. That's miracle #2 for the evening - for those who are keeping count.

More later......