Bacon, Lettuce and...

In or never-ending search for the perfect meal, we ended up at a new spot (for us) last night for my wife's birthday. Luckily, her grandmother and aunt are with us for the weekend, so they offered to babysit. We took them up on their offer and we were out by ourselves for the first time since the baby was born.
This year, I decided to take my wife to BLT Prime for her birthday celebration. It's one of the many NYC restaurants owned/run by Chef Laurent Tourondel (the others are BLT Steak, BLT Burger and BLT Fish). We made the reservation a while ago, and although the freezing weather dimmed our excitement about heading out last night, we weren't about to give up a night of babysitting.
After sitting down for dinner we were handed our menus and a wine list that could rival Webster's Dictionary. At first I was kind of in awe, but then I knew we were getting steaks and I narrowed down my choices to a Cabernet, a Bordeaux or a Brunello. The wine list was extensive but also very expensive, so I had decided to forget about skimping and throw down for a nice Brunello. However my wife decided we should consult with the staff. Our waitress actually suggested a bottle of Rosso di Montalcino "Tirso" Villa Le Prata 2003, Italy. It's a spicier wine made from Sangiovese grapes (which I love). We both really enjoyed this wine, and it went terrific with our meal (of course, my Google search for it shows me it's much cheaper on Lupa's winelist than at BLT).
Anyway... on to the food. They gave us a little muse bouche of toasty breads and chicken liver pate to start things off. I have to admit, I was a little scared at first (it didn't smell all that great), but we decided to go for it, and it was really good. Then we got a pair of gigantic cheese popovers with fresh butter and sea salt on the side. They were full of just-baked goodness. I decided to have an appetizer - it was a special - of duck confit with greens and a black truffle dressing. This was great, and was the size of duck confit meals I ate in Paris. For a main course, we both had New York Strip Steaks (mine was medium, while my wife's medium-well). They came with a pat of herbed butter on top and your choice of sauce. I had the three mustards and my wife had the Roquefort. For sides, we got the creamy spinach and parmesan gnocchi. Overall, the dinner was very good. I really enjoyed my steak and the spinach was terrific. The gnocchi had a little too much cheese on them (never thought I would say that) and they kind of got lost in the mix. The 3 mustards weren't that great though. I would have picked 3 different mustards to have with a steak. I still haven't found a steak house better than Sparks in NYC, but I'm trying.
Finally, for desert, we chose the banana bread pudding with rum caramel ice cream. This was very good (although they did put raisins in their bread pudding). However, they also gave us a "free" tasting of some little brownies covered in some crispy coating. Those were fantastic. This was all finally washed down with a nice cappuccino to end the meal. It was terrific. A meal can be ruined by a bad cup of coffee at the end, and this one ended nicely.
So... BLT Prime. I had a great meal, but it was the most I've ever spent on dinner for my wife and I. I know I've been to better restaurants and had better meals than this one, so I don't know if I'll go back. NYC has too many other places to try.