So....the birthday dinner at Eleven. Jilly picked me up about 7:15 and we drove down to the strip in just the tiniest bit of snow and ice. I was really happy that my birthday had brought the snow....at last, I can stop saying things like "freakish" and "apocalyptic" when referring to the weather. That is a nice birthday treat from mother nature.
We arrived just in time for our reservation, and Jilly availed herself of the VALET. We walked in and the hostess was very warm and friendly, showing us to our PRIVATE ALCOVE table. Really, it was something. Turns out that the friend who worked there is now the MANAGER, so we got some extra nice treatment all night long. So sweet!
We arranged ourselves and met our server who was a very awesome gal who had been in the same section when Jilly went there for her birthday dinner...so she remembered Jilly and knew that we were there for my birthday. She took our order for two Ketel One VERY Dirty Martinis....I am so happy that Jilly is a recent convert to the dirty vodka. I have gotten way out of the martini habit and it is nice to have someone to coax me back in to it! And of course, at Eleven they are extra cold and extra salty and the olives are big and juicy. Yum.
So here's the thing about "fine dining" that I really love....the servers are really into partnering with you to make sure you have the best experience possible. I mean, the stereotype of fine dining is snooty waiters who are going to condescend, but my limited experiences with fine dining have been totally different. I enjoy feeling like this person is really interested in me having a good time...if it's a show, that's fine. But at least I felt that way. Our server was fantastic. As soon as we were settled in with our drinks we were presented with our amusee....a tiny sliver of roasted golden beet topped with a goat cheese rosette and warm sage honey. On the most precious little glass tasting plate. It was pretty tasty, but really it was all about the presentation. Then our server came back and took our appetizer and salad orders.....being the slightest bit coy about our difficulty choosing between the two pasta starters. We finally settled on the Mascarpone and Sweet Potato Ravioli with caramelized onion puree, braised red cabbage, and roated onion. For salads we chose The Ceasar with baby red and green romaine, kalamata olive-parmesan croutons, giant parmesan shavings, and a whole white anchovy on top; and the Roasted Beet and Apple Salad with iceburg lettuce, blue cheese and hazelnut dressing. Jilly was not super impressed with the ceasar (and it was definitely not baby greens...but then again, it's definitely the middle of winter!) saying the dressing was a bit lemony. I was on the other hand totally knocked out by the beet and apple salad. Tiny dice of beets and spiced apples were pressed together into a disk, and presented on the plate with a wedge of iceburg(I am not into this trend of making iceburg cool, but whatever) that was drizzled with the dressing. It was gorgeous, and both components of the salad were pretty yummy. I would have loved it more had it been some big pillowy boston lettuce with the beet and apple disk on top, maybe....but I'm not complaining!
Next came the ravioli....I thought they were gorgeous sitting in their little pool of caramelized onion puree. Jilly felt that the raviolis looked a little too naked. We both agreed that they tasted freakin awesome, though...especially with the braised red cabbage underneath. So good!
We were relaxing and enjoying our drinks when Amanda, our new manager friend, came out and presented us with a plate of Black Truffle Fettuccini with duck confit, bitter greens, roasted squash, and crispy sage leaves, as a gift from herself and the chef. Wow! This was almost too amazing to talk about....the fettuccini was perfect (housemade, of course) the black truffle broth was overpowering (not in a "too much" way, more in a "I think I am going to lose consciousness" way) and then when you think your taste buds are going to recover, there is a shot of roasted squash and DUCK! and tiny crispy sage leaves. It really was almost too much. So good. This was one of the things Jilly had at her birthday dinner and Amanda had remembered how much she loved it, so it was a personal and very thoughtful gift.
So we were just about done swooning when the bread guy came around with a giant basket and offered us a choice...semolina sesame, a corn bread with cracked black pepper and cilantro, and a salted foccaccia. We tried them all over the course of the meal....the corn bread was my favorite after all, even though I couldn't really taste all the stuff that was supposed to be in it. The texture was amazing though. We had another round of martinis and water, and then it was entree time.
It was a tough choice for me....I'm always happy with salmon, and the preparation included lentils, but a good piece of tuna can be ecstatic. And both the server and manager assured me that overcooking was not going to be a problem, so I took the plunge. Tuna with potato, portabello, and truffle galette, mushroom puree, haricot vert, and red wine veal reduction. Jilly had the Seafood Tasting, partly so I could get my taste of salmon, and partly because she wanted to sample the crab cake. Hers came with Pacific salmon, potato crusted sea scallop, and jumbo lump crab cakes.
My plate was absolutely gorgeous, and the mushroom puree was particularly fantastic. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but it was so earthy and smooth and went well with the tuna. It was a nice change to get a tuna preparation that was not overwhelmed with strong asian flavors, too...it was basically just TUNA, surrounded by some other good tasting stuff. The galette was HUGE, and perfectly crisp on the outside with a foundation of portobello and a creamy truffle infused potato interior. Dang. The haricots verts were crisp and very green, but a tab bit over peppered. It was hard for me to fault someone for overpeppering though....I tend to do it myself. Jilly's plate was very simple....the scallop had a big potato crisp on top, and was nestled in something I don't remember....the salmon was perfectly cooked and tasted like itself as well...but the star of the plate was definitely the crab cake. The Meyer lemon buerre noisette and very light crisp panko coating....my god. If I ever go there again (and I bet I will!) It's the crab cake for me. Seriously. Crab cake and dirty martini and I'm good for the night!
But no.....there was more to eat. We did the best we could with our entrees, but neither of us could quite finish them off. When our server came to talk to us about dessert we just sort of stared at her with glassy eyes...but finally we managed to order the most delicious dessert wine of all time: 2005 Castello Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto D'Acqui. Say that five times fast....no, don't bother. Just order me a case of that shit, because it is the best thing EVER and not carried by the WINE AND SPIRITS SUPERSTORE. WTF?!?!?! Our tall flutes arrived and were so beautiful...the most deep garnet red with fizzy bubbles, and a simultaneously deep and light flavor. Impossible to describe(especially by me..I'm a dork when it comes to wines) All I can really say for it is GIVE ME MORE. We were just starting to settle down from all the overstimulation when out comes the aforementioned carrot cake, all done up on the plate with Happy Birthday written in dark chocolate. I made a few desultory swipes at it with my fork, but I could not fit it in. So the sweet server packed it up and gave me a Dessert Check to pick it up at the door! How cool is that? The bill came with three home made chocolates...I managed to enjoy two of them since everyone was saying the rosa regale goes so well with chocolate. They weren't wrong, but I think the rosa regale would go fine with anything I would ever care to put in my mouth. Seriously, I love this stuff. Just love it.
Amanda came and chatted with us for a bit, and then it was time to go. An unforgettable birthday dinner for an unforgettable birthday...thanks so much Jilly!
We arrived just in time for our reservation, and Jilly availed herself of the VALET. We walked in and the hostess was very warm and friendly, showing us to our PRIVATE ALCOVE table. Really, it was something. Turns out that the friend who worked there is now the MANAGER, so we got some extra nice treatment all night long. So sweet!
We arranged ourselves and met our server who was a very awesome gal who had been in the same section when Jilly went there for her birthday dinner...so she remembered Jilly and knew that we were there for my birthday. She took our order for two Ketel One VERY Dirty Martinis....I am so happy that Jilly is a recent convert to the dirty vodka. I have gotten way out of the martini habit and it is nice to have someone to coax me back in to it! And of course, at Eleven they are extra cold and extra salty and the olives are big and juicy. Yum.
So here's the thing about "fine dining" that I really love....the servers are really into partnering with you to make sure you have the best experience possible. I mean, the stereotype of fine dining is snooty waiters who are going to condescend, but my limited experiences with fine dining have been totally different. I enjoy feeling like this person is really interested in me having a good time...if it's a show, that's fine. But at least I felt that way. Our server was fantastic. As soon as we were settled in with our drinks we were presented with our amusee....a tiny sliver of roasted golden beet topped with a goat cheese rosette and warm sage honey. On the most precious little glass tasting plate. It was pretty tasty, but really it was all about the presentation. Then our server came back and took our appetizer and salad orders.....being the slightest bit coy about our difficulty choosing between the two pasta starters. We finally settled on the Mascarpone and Sweet Potato Ravioli with caramelized onion puree, braised red cabbage, and roated onion. For salads we chose The Ceasar with baby red and green romaine, kalamata olive-parmesan croutons, giant parmesan shavings, and a whole white anchovy on top; and the Roasted Beet and Apple Salad with iceburg lettuce, blue cheese and hazelnut dressing. Jilly was not super impressed with the ceasar (and it was definitely not baby greens...but then again, it's definitely the middle of winter!) saying the dressing was a bit lemony. I was on the other hand totally knocked out by the beet and apple salad. Tiny dice of beets and spiced apples were pressed together into a disk, and presented on the plate with a wedge of iceburg(I am not into this trend of making iceburg cool, but whatever) that was drizzled with the dressing. It was gorgeous, and both components of the salad were pretty yummy. I would have loved it more had it been some big pillowy boston lettuce with the beet and apple disk on top, maybe....but I'm not complaining!
Next came the ravioli....I thought they were gorgeous sitting in their little pool of caramelized onion puree. Jilly felt that the raviolis looked a little too naked. We both agreed that they tasted freakin awesome, though...especially with the braised red cabbage underneath. So good!
We were relaxing and enjoying our drinks when Amanda, our new manager friend, came out and presented us with a plate of Black Truffle Fettuccini with duck confit, bitter greens, roasted squash, and crispy sage leaves, as a gift from herself and the chef. Wow! This was almost too amazing to talk about....the fettuccini was perfect (housemade, of course) the black truffle broth was overpowering (not in a "too much" way, more in a "I think I am going to lose consciousness" way) and then when you think your taste buds are going to recover, there is a shot of roasted squash and DUCK! and tiny crispy sage leaves. It really was almost too much. So good. This was one of the things Jilly had at her birthday dinner and Amanda had remembered how much she loved it, so it was a personal and very thoughtful gift.
So we were just about done swooning when the bread guy came around with a giant basket and offered us a choice...semolina sesame, a corn bread with cracked black pepper and cilantro, and a salted foccaccia. We tried them all over the course of the meal....the corn bread was my favorite after all, even though I couldn't really taste all the stuff that was supposed to be in it. The texture was amazing though. We had another round of martinis and water, and then it was entree time.
It was a tough choice for me....I'm always happy with salmon, and the preparation included lentils, but a good piece of tuna can be ecstatic. And both the server and manager assured me that overcooking was not going to be a problem, so I took the plunge. Tuna with potato, portabello, and truffle galette, mushroom puree, haricot vert, and red wine veal reduction. Jilly had the Seafood Tasting, partly so I could get my taste of salmon, and partly because she wanted to sample the crab cake. Hers came with Pacific salmon, potato crusted sea scallop, and jumbo lump crab cakes.
My plate was absolutely gorgeous, and the mushroom puree was particularly fantastic. I wasn't sure I was going to like it but it was so earthy and smooth and went well with the tuna. It was a nice change to get a tuna preparation that was not overwhelmed with strong asian flavors, too...it was basically just TUNA, surrounded by some other good tasting stuff. The galette was HUGE, and perfectly crisp on the outside with a foundation of portobello and a creamy truffle infused potato interior. Dang. The haricots verts were crisp and very green, but a tab bit over peppered. It was hard for me to fault someone for overpeppering though....I tend to do it myself. Jilly's plate was very simple....the scallop had a big potato crisp on top, and was nestled in something I don't remember....the salmon was perfectly cooked and tasted like itself as well...but the star of the plate was definitely the crab cake. The Meyer lemon buerre noisette and very light crisp panko coating....my god. If I ever go there again (and I bet I will!) It's the crab cake for me. Seriously. Crab cake and dirty martini and I'm good for the night!
But no.....there was more to eat. We did the best we could with our entrees, but neither of us could quite finish them off. When our server came to talk to us about dessert we just sort of stared at her with glassy eyes...but finally we managed to order the most delicious dessert wine of all time: 2005 Castello Banfi Rosa Regale Brachetto D'Acqui. Say that five times fast....no, don't bother. Just order me a case of that shit, because it is the best thing EVER and not carried by the WINE AND SPIRITS SUPERSTORE. WTF?!?!?! Our tall flutes arrived and were so beautiful...the most deep garnet red with fizzy bubbles, and a simultaneously deep and light flavor. Impossible to describe(especially by me..I'm a dork when it comes to wines) All I can really say for it is GIVE ME MORE. We were just starting to settle down from all the overstimulation when out comes the aforementioned carrot cake, all done up on the plate with Happy Birthday written in dark chocolate. I made a few desultory swipes at it with my fork, but I could not fit it in. So the sweet server packed it up and gave me a Dessert Check to pick it up at the door! How cool is that? The bill came with three home made chocolates...I managed to enjoy two of them since everyone was saying the rosa regale goes so well with chocolate. They weren't wrong, but I think the rosa regale would go fine with anything I would ever care to put in my mouth. Seriously, I love this stuff. Just love it.
Amanda came and chatted with us for a bit, and then it was time to go. An unforgettable birthday dinner for an unforgettable birthday...thanks so much Jilly!
posted by sheryl at 4:45 PM
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