This weekend, my wife and I decided we needed a night out, so we got a couple of babysitters (the grandparents) and scoured through OpenTable.com looking for a place to eat. I saw that Butter had some openings, and I've wanted to taste Alex Guarnaschelli's food myself after seeing her dish out comments to the competitors on shows like Iron Chef and Chopped. Also, since Butter is always a hot-spot for the celebrities, we thought it would be fun.When we arrived, we were seated right away in the Birch Room downstairs - at first it was a little odd, because we were the only people there. Our sense of loneliness was easy to overcome, and soon we got down to business. The waiter came over and explained the night's specials, but we had already figured out what we were going to have for dinner - we were giving the Tasting Menu a shot (mine with with wine parings).
One thing I found a little odd about Butter's tasting menu was that it wasn't the same for the entire table. My wife and I were served a completely different meal each. Luckily, we don't mind sharing, so we tasted a lot of great food last night.
Before the meal arrived, we were served some bread with butter - not a strange concept at all. It was one, however, that we were trying to avoid. With the meal we were expecting before us, neither wanted to fill up on bread. But how, may I ask, do you go to Butter and not try the butter? Some of the best butter I've ever had.
Our first course began with some soup. I was served the lentil bacon soup (it was one of the specials that evening) and my wife was served a potato leak soup with crispy onion rings in it (interestingly, this wasn't on the menu at all). Interesting side note: at the end of the meal, I asked for a list of the wines I had - they gave me a copy of our entire menu - and it appears we were given the wrong soups. Anyway, both were fantastic. I actually enjoyed the lentil bacon more than the potato leak (and my wife, the other way around), so we were happy with the serving snafu. The lentil soup was sweeter than I had expected, but those bites of bacon were awesome. As for the potato leek, it was great as well, mainly because of the crispy onion rings waiting to be found. For this course, I was given a glass of the Cleto Chiarli Sparkling Rosè Wine Rose Brut NV (Modena, Italy). It was nice, light and a little sweet. A clean way to kick off the drinking.
The next course consisted of a split of the special appetizer of the night. I received 2 deep fried crispy sardines and my wife received 2 deep fried crispy shrimp with a brown butter sauce. This was the only downer of the night for me. The shrimp were fantastic - warm, crispy and the brown butter sauce was fantastic. The sardines suffered a little because we shared the shrimp first. It was very cold in the dining room at that time, and by the time we moved over to the little guys, they had cooled down significantly. Fried food is always better hot. I imagine they would have been much better if I had gotten into them right away. This was paired with Moutard Brut Grande Cuvée NV (Buxeil, France) This was fantastic. I was a little surprised to get two glasses of the "sparkling" variety, but I was happy with the choices. This was obviously much more "champagne-y" than the first round. It had a deeper flavor and was much drier than the Cleto. I remember drinking this one pretty quickly.
After the first two courses, we began moving on to some more serious eating. Next up: pasta. I was given the Cavatappi pasta with homemade lamb sausage in a yellow tomato sauce, while my wife was given angel hair pasta with American caviar in a lemon butter sauce (I think - too much wine has clouded my memory a bit). At first my wife was scared of the caviar, but I convinced her to conquer her fears. Soon, she was enjoying it as much as I was. It had a nice, creamy texture, which went very well with the pasta. It didn't have the usual "popping" that I normally associate with caviar. My pasta dish was fantastic. The sausage was slightly overcooked and dry, but the taste was so good that I really didn't care. I could have had this for my entire meal and gone home happy. This was paired with Gruner Veltliner Fritsch “Windspiel” (Donauland, Austria) ’06. This wine was light, crisp and fantastic. I would buy this for my house - great summer wine. Mmmm.
Our next selections were more of the seafood variety - fish to be exact. My wife was served the olive oil poached striped bass with Tuscan kale, celery hearts and olives. This fish was fantastic. Buttery and light. I received the special fish dish - a nice piece of snapper encrusted with slices of purple potatoes. Again, this was fantastic. The potatoes provided the perfect crispy element to this dish. With this I was given the Albarino Burgans (Rias Baixis, Spain) - unclear on the vintage. This was a really nice Spanish white. I haven't been to crazy about most of the Spanish whites I've found in the States - although I really enjoyed a bunch in Spain. This one was one I'd have again.
At this point, we began to get a little confused. The tasting menu includes dessert, and we thought it was a 5 course meal. We had gone through 4 courses at this point, and assumed dessert would be next. I was a little disappointed to finish out the meal with a piece of fish - only because I was hoping for some meat, not because it was anything less than great. Then, to our surprise, we were brought two more plates, filled with the good stuff. My wife was given the seared Colorado rack of lamb and I was given a pork tenderloin. I can't even remember how it was cooked, but it was my favorite part of the meal. It was fantastic and it made me happy. The lamb was also great - and that was my wife's favorite on her side. This course was paired with Pavilion Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. This was good, and I was happy to finally get some red wine. However, I think it was my least favorite of the entire night. Probably wouldn't go out and buy it, but would get it if it was on a wines by the glass list, and that's what I was looking for.
Now it was time for some dessert. When they brought us the plates, my wife asked what they were. Throughout the evening, we were given enourmous details on every dish and how it was prepared. For the desserts, were were told "This one is strawberry. This one is chocolate." Short and to the point. Neither are on the menu. My wife was given strawberries in a Zabaglione. Mine - well, it was some sort of warm chocolate cake. Both were rich and terrific. My dessert was paired with a glass of Mission Hill Riesling Ice Wine. I was very happy with this because that is my favorite type of dessert wine.
And then it was done. We were there for hours and I enjoyed every minute of it.
