06 Feb 2010

R: It refuses to snow in New York. Everywhere else it snows - it snowed inches in Staten Island! It's like Manhattan is in a snow free bubble. Not that that is such a terrible thing - my feet are pleasantly warm and dry - but it's starting to weird me out. There's a "Snowpocalyspse" in DC! And THIS is the extent of the all-day snow "storm" predicted for New York today.


C: Generally, I prefer food at its least complicated, removed all pretentiousness; I love a meal that is prepared at home, thrown on a plate and shared among loved ones. However, I have to admit that the occasional fine dining experience is something to be treasured. There are only a handful of high-end restaurants that I think are worth their ranking and price-tag; Clio Restaurant is one of those places. After spending a casual afternoon with M's parents--lunch and dessert in the North End and art galleries in the South End--we ended the day with a particularly unique experience at the award-winning, contemporary French/American/Asian restaurant.

At S's (M's dad) encouragement, I started with a Shiso Bourbon cocktail that was slightly reminiscent of a whiskey sour, but much smoother, not quite as tart, but just as dangerous. Going to Clio has become an unofficial tradition each time they visit, and I have a feeling they know us by now...we always seem to get complimentary aperitifs, and this visit was no different. They gave us petits-fours-sized foie gras bites - they were buttery, breaded morsels with smears of the fatty-liver goodness, with an additional sweet bite that honestly reminded me of jam. Delicious. I had the ceviche special for my first (well now, second) course, which I shared with M. The shrimp-scallop-caviar concoction was lightly marinated in a citrusy yuzu vinegar and olive oil, with a dusting of cayenne pepper for an extra kick.

Apparently, between the first and second courses, they managed to lose the remainder of wine left in the decanter from our original bottle. As a courtesy, they offered us another bottle of wine (unfortunately not the same one), and then followed this with another dish. This was a scallop with a cream and mushroom sauce, generously topped with black truffles. By this time, I was already feeling stuffed, but was so excited about the main course, it didn't matter. I chose this amazingly tender short rib, which in portion and taste was identifiably more like a beef brisket than a short rib. I don't know where they found those cows if it's a short rib because they were enormous! Finally--as if the replacement wine and comp'ed dish were not enough--for the finale, they presented us with dessert wine. Unlike other dessert wines I've had, this one was not cloyingly sweet and syrupy, but had a flavor and texture almost like a sweetened cognac. I opted out of dessert otherwise.

Honestly, I am about to crash about now (it was a lot of food and drinking, afterall)...but if you live in Boston and you're proposing marriage or celebrating another huge event, I would definitely put Clio in the top 5 restaurants to do your wining and dining.