Bill and I ate at Chives tonight to celebrate his birthday, it was amazing. We dined at the Chef’s Table, where they just bring you food. Six courses, you don’t order anything except drinks. Here’s what I love about this:
- It was tasty, delicious, creative food. I’m still savoring dinner.
- I didn’t have to decide what I wanted (which is always tough for me to do). The chef deciding and bringing us things was exciting!
- Little portions so you can try lots of stuff (LOVE that).
- Six courses, did I mention that? Lots of options.
- YUM. Seriously.
- Oh, you get to eat in the kitchen. Seriously, in the back, in the kitchen. So fun. I’ve never been in a restaurant kitchen, it was so cool to see them build dishes and watch everyone work together.
Here’s some pics from our dinner, and my own accounting of what everything was. I did not take notes, this is in Maria-speak, so consider yourself notified.
Course 1:
Lobster bisque with cream and a un-beheaded-shrimp
This was thick and creamy and delicious. My only complaint, the eyes. I felt like it watched me eat it…and I was a little nervous about it. Plus it was watching me from the plate after, so I asked them to remove it. Thankfully they quickly complied, or I would have been forced to name it and suffer guilt. Alls well that ends well.
Bill and his shrimp
Course 2:
Asparagus, egg, radish greens, miso paste and hoisin sauce
This was the most creative dish I think, and my favorite. I would never have thought of putting this all together, and it was amazing. I want to eat it again.
Course 3:
Risotto with Italian truffle oil
I might get this one wrong, but I think there was Italian truffle oil, some kind of awesome cheese, risotto, some amazing greens. It was intensely flavorful and delish. Wanna see it again, another angle maybe?
Risotto...yum
Course 4:
Applewood smoked bacon wrapped scallop on sweet potato
So I immediately cut into this and chowed down…so this is Bill’s since he moved slower on this course than me. YUM. The ingenious part of this is around the outside, it’s maple syrup and mustard. I would NEVER in a million years think to mix the two, or to pair it with all this. Totally worth it. This was a good combo.
Course 5:
Buffalo tenderloin on brandied onions and spinach
We have eaten buffalo before and loved it, but never had anything like this. The meat was so fresh, the chef told us he gets it from a local farmer. It’s never frozen, when they have meat available he buys it all. I can see why, this was great. More rare than I would normally order but it was so good, another reason that I am glad I didn’t get to choose the dishes. Most likely I would have ordered it medium or something and not gotten to experience this, so so good. The buffalo was encrusted in peppercorns, spicy and delish. Honestly, the onions and spinach were so good I’d eat them on their own. Any time.
Course 6:
Smores creme brulee with homemade graham cracker
This was such a cool adult take on a smores. Chef said normally the marshmallows are homemade, but they ran out, so we survived with purchased marshmallows. The standout component of this dish though was the homemade graham cracker. It was never occurred to me to make my own graham crackers, and it should. These are amazing, the texture was so different than the box stuff. Bill and I debated it on the way home, it was so different it challenged our concept of what a graham cracker is. (Several martinis in Bill becomes pretty existential.) Honestly, I don’t care what a graham cracker really is or should be, I just want you to keep these coming. It was less crumbly, more dense, spicier and just so much better overall than any box graham cracker. I was so thrilled with it they brought me another, which lead to cheering on my part. Ahhh, yum.
One last shot of the happy birthday guy.
Happy Birthday Bill!
I love this man. I will do anything for him, dine anywhere with him, follow him to the ends of the earth. So far, he’s only taken me to Wisconsin, but we’ll see where we go from here. What I can tell you is that we’ll be returning to Chives soon, probably with kids in tow. I can’t wait to try some stuff off their regular menu.
Want to learn more, or book your own experience? http://chivesdining.net or you can find them on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/chivesdining. I can’t imagine you’d be disappointed. (and no, I am in no way compensated for this recommendation, I just had such a great time I wanted to share it.)
maria7z 