Foodievents Sept. 9, 2009
Our Bivalves & Bubbles Winner
By Leila Cohan-Miccio
Photo: iStockPhoto.com
The entries describing readers' most hedonistic meals that poured in for our ticket giveaway to tonight's Bivalves & Bubbles party at Legal Sea Foods all succeeded in making us very hungry, but in the end, we were most swayed by Valeria's, which describes the awesome power of unexpected free food:
Many years ago, I traveled with my mother and father to Mexico for a week-long vacation. It was by far the most luxurious trip that we had ever taken. The hotel had two big restaurants and we dined in both, but the meal that we had at the French-inspired cuisine one was by far the most memorable meal of my entire life.
The restaurant was basically empty when we arrived. There was only one other family finishing up their meal. The emptiness meant that each of us were assigned our own individual waiter that attended to us, literally on hand and foot. We had ordered our three courses, and were looking forward to enjoying a satisfying meal - what we didn't expect was what followed after our menus were taken away.
The waiters came to our table, with little balls of butter that had been braided and delicately placed them on each of our plates. The accompanying basket revealed a selection of dinner rolls that included olive bread, basil bread, cheese bread, sourdough bread - and each was baked into an individual shape as well. The bread was hard on the outside but soft and warm on the inside - just like how I love it.
Before our appetizers had arrived, three small plates were set before us. We noted that we hadn't ordered that, but the waiters informed us that the small plates were compliments of the chef. Before each of our courses arrived, a small plate preceeded and prefaced it. The filget mignon was covered in a delicious black pepper crust, on a bed of braided pasta. The rack of lamb was artfully displayed with it's rosemary proudly showing off. The chocolate truffles were encircled on the plate with a design of some delicious pink thing.
At the end of our meals, my mother and I each received a single white rose.
It's still a meal that we talk about each and every day.
Congratulations, Valeria! You win two tickets to tonight's Bivalves & Bubbles and can start downing oysters at champagne at 6 p.m. As for the rest of you, tickets are still available and can be purchased for $60 by calling (617) 530-9195.
foodievents