The girls, Miranda, Tessa and Hyoji, traveled up to Boston for a weekend while Miranda had a poster presentation at a liver conference titled, "Keeping End-Stage Cirrhosis Patients Alive." We had planned a while ago that we would not get each other birthday gifts, and instead take ourselves out for a really nice dinner when we were in Boston. That dinner was a small, unassuming but appropriately-rated restaurant called
Ten Tables. Ten Tables has two locations, one in Jamaica Plains and one in Cambridge. The restaurant came highly recommended by Noah, a good friend and foodie. We started the evening with drinks at a hotel bar called Noir in the Charles Hotel. We were met by Noah and his lovely wife, Meredith. Noah treated us to some seriously delectable cocktails. Tessa and I were both drawn to the drink they named, "Dirty Harry." The version of "Dirty Harry" that we both ordered was made with Miller's Gin with a splash of olive juice. The beauteous part of the drink was the olives in the drink were stuffed with bleu cheese. It was a salty and hairy drink that stayed with you all night. It was divine.
The Rices walked with us for 1/2 mile to our dinner destination, Ten Tables. Not being a food critique, let alone a writer for that matter, I really cannot do justice to the insanely amazing meal we had. I do think that when Tessa let it slip that I was taking photos and notes for my food blog, the stakes rose because thereafter we received an extra savoury meal and an amuse bouche before our dessert course. Let me just recount the meal we had.
The tasting menu was not on the printed menu. The three of us had decided on the specific appetizers and entreés we were going to order until Miranda innocently asked, "you no longer have a tasting menu?" And the waiter promptly responded, "Oh, we do. It's just not printed. It is three savoury courses and one dessert course for $40." The three of us sat there in utter disbelief. "$40?!?!?" we all thought. We're in!
First course:
Suckling pig rillette with cracklin' pig skin salad. It was accompanied by a reduction that a note of red wine or red wine vinegar. Spread on the rillette and topping their butter toasted bread was delicious. I could have eaten an entire meal of this alone.
Second course:
Alaskan halibut with beets, pomegranate and farro. The fish was seared on one side and the center meat was tender and moist. Perfectly cooked fish, really.
Third course (surprise course):
Bone marrow. Enough said. Really, can more be said.? Again, spread onto the butter, toasted bread. Yum.
Fourth course:
New Zealand venison, grilled and cooked to medium, on a bed of brussel sprouts and turnip pureé. I've never had venison, and this was a great introduction. There was no gaminess to this. It was just pure red meat cooked just right for optimal tenderness.
Amuse bouche:
Concord grape sorbet. It was a small scoop that was just the right amount to cleanse the palate between the savoury and the sweet courses. I grew up eating concord grapes as such: first, I would suck the "eye" out of the grape and then suck out the remaining sweet grape juice from the skin. This sorbet tasted just like that sweet grape juice. No added sweetener.
Dessert course:
This is the part that showed real care and concern from the wait staff. Tessa and I both got the chocolate terrine with sprinkled sea salt and topped with thai basil ice cream. The terrine was just the right amount of bitterness from dark chocolate and sweetness (which wasn't much). The sweetness of the dessert dish came from the ice cream, but the thai basil flavor cut some of the sweetness, so it was really perfect for me, who can always pass on dessert for an extra serving of savory. The sea salt sprinkling also balanced the bitterness in the chocolate with the sweetness in the ice cream. The waiter had paid attention to Miranda when she said, "Oh, I'm so stuffed."
So he brought her a lighter dessert dish, Peach poached in honey and saffron topped with vanilla bean ice cream. The peach was soft and melting along side the ice cream. Miranda truly enjoyed this alternative.
The food alone at Ten Tables is worth talking about, but we three were very impressed by the wait staff and the sous chef, who made a visit to make sure that everything was all right with us. There was a familiarity and an informalness with our waiter that made the experience rather homey and comfortable. We felt free to ask questions about the difference between rillette and paté and we didn't get a bull shit response. Our waiter acknowledged his lack of knowledge and found out for us from the chef- rillette is cooked then formed, paté is formed then cooked.
Persevering through treacherous weather conditions, Ben and I made our annual, semi-annual, bi-annual trip to Calais, via Dover and the Eurotunnel. Better known as the Booze Cruise, each year, millions of Brits make this trans-channel trip in search of French edibles and imbibables for good prices. We began our journey at 10.30am from north London and made our way to Calais by 2.30pm (France is one hour ahead). We began with lunch at Flunch, a French canteen. I had the plat du jour (un boeuf) and ben had a galette (avec jambon) and a small bottle of red wine. After lunch, we walked around Cité Europe for a bit of shopping. A funny thing about the French is that they don't work late and therefore early today, they were relabeling their sales items with discounted prices which would not be in effect until the next day. 
So everything I wanted to try on and possibly buy was still full priced, even though the price tag said otherwise. In the states, this would be unacceptable. In France, it is the norm. We proceeded to do our price checks on alcohol starting with Tesco in Cité Europe. Afterward, we made our way to Carrefour. Ahhh.... Carrefour. I love this supermarket, truly a supermarché
