I feel heartened to have a bully pulpit to spread the word of the wonderful meal that I shared with three others this week. It was a cornucopia of marvelously prepared dishes, accompanied by wine and fine service. As a lover of good food and one who also enjoys eating, this meal was a serendipitous descent into the delights of tuscan cooking with a trencherman's gusto. To be fair, this was a "business lunch" with clients who were the hosts of this culinary tour de force, so many of the choices of foods were theirs. Having eaten with them on a number of occasions I knew that we would be well irrigated with high grade vino and that the meal would be a whirlwind of the best the restaurant had to offer.
The restaurant selected was Da Silvano (http://www.dasilvano.com/) which is in lower manhattan on Sixth Avenue, a Tuscan restaurant which has been one of the very good Italian restaurants in the city for the last 25 or 30 years. It is also known as a celebrity hangout and is owned/managed/operated by its eponymous owner Silvano Marchetto.
One of the clients is an Italian woman of some style and class(in addition to being a world class gourmet.. though she probably tips the scale at 100 pounds only when wearing heavy jewelry), and she only orders through "her" waiter who's from a small town near her hometown in Tuscany or Silvano himself(sometimes both of them together). The other client is a true gourmet, though of local origin, and the confirmed master of the wine list as well as sushi and sashimi.
Upon being seated and bowed and scraped over, the two clients, a colleague of mine and I were seated at a table on their sidewalk area(it being a perfect low seventies day in New York, ideal for eating, drinking and watching the passing flow of humanity). A bread basket with various fresh, wonderful breads was placed on the table with both olive oil and butter. This was followed by a piece of rough butcher's paper with a number of slices of salami with serious chunks of aged parmigiano reggiano cheese.
Promptly, a wine was selected. It was a wonderful combination of the sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes which was fruitfully aromatic with hints of all sorts of herbs and finishing notes. A glance at the wine list reflected that it was offered at $150 for the bottle. Needless to say, I sipped it frequently to tease out all the flavors and subtleties of the wine.
Next began the initial negotiation between the Italian host and her waiter over the selection of appropriate appetizers. Much in the way that Chinese folks appear to be screaming at each other, the Italians always seem to be arguing, with arms akimbo and facial motility expressing the spectrum of emotions. Having been there before with the clients I knew that we would be seeing the fried zucchini flowers, but didn't know if the client could convince them to make a special version for her stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies. She succeeded. In addition, we got a thinly sliced chicory salad with anchovy and garlic sauce, an eggplant parmigiano in a porcelain crock which was so good I couldn't resist sweeping the remaining sauce out of the crock with a hunk of the crispy bread. There was also a fava bean with shrimp dish that was unbelievable.. with the fava bean soft, but not mushy and somehow infused with the aroma and flavor of the shrimps which were pristine and perfectly sauteed.
By the time we'd finished this course the first bottle of wine was done and another had been dispatched to the table. While the portions were not huge, most light eaters would have been done with their meals at this point. Next, we were told that there was a special in the pasta dishes of gnocchi with lobster and asparagus tips. It was determined that my colleague and I and the non-italian client would have this, the Italian having a collection of three pastas in a pomodoro sauce. As we were discussing this, the waiter brought out a huge white truffle on a big ceramic dish covered with raw rice. You could smell the truffle from three or four feet away. We were told that the truffle was about one and a half pounds(something like $1500-2000 worth of fungus). Immediately, the non-italian client insisted that we must have something with the white truffle. So, after some Italian negotiation, it was determined to have a risotto with the white truffle. The final word from the non-Italian client.. make it a big order for the whole table(n.b. the menu had a listing for an appetizer portion of the truffle risotto for $125).
The gnocchi were seriously to die for. If any of you are fans of gnocchi you know that most of the gnocchi to be had are like mini canon balls. Occasionally you get light, fluffy, delicious gnocchi. And rarely, you have gnocchi that are so soft and delicious it is like eating clouds of ambrosia... with the gnocchi literally melting in your mouth. This was the variety we received that day.. with the lobster chunks and sauce and tips of asparagus providing a medley of textures, tastes, aromas and mouth feels. The portion was a full dinner portion of gnocchi, but so good that one could not stop eating... well, except that right after the gnocchi appeared, out came the risotto.
If you've ever had the pleasure of having a dish with truffles, part of the fun is usually the owner or maitre d' will appear and with great ceremony slice off several paper thin pieces of the truffle onto your dish. We didn't get the ceremony, but.. our large flat bottomed bowl of risotto was covered with a multitude of slices of the white truffle. In fact, the low dome shaped mound of risotto was encased in truffle slices. Like a mirrored disco ball with the mirrors covering every surface of the ball, so the truffle slices seamlessly covered the risotto so that every forkfull of risotto included at least one slice of truffle. To say that it was heavenly would be an understatement. The risotto itself was cooked to perfection, not crunchy and not mushy, but perfectly cooked with cheese adding a depth of flavor(we were told by Silvano there were actually three cheeses in the risotto), but not making it too cheesy. And again the portion size was so large that one half of the portion would have made a good dinner main course for a normal eater.
I was shocked that I was still eating and was able to finish both the gnocchi and the risotto. And, the second bottle of wine failed to last the course and was replaced by a third bottle.
At this point the Italian client began negotiating again with the waiter and Silvano about a meat course. I sat on in a stupor, already trying to figure out how I would rise from my chair when the meal was over. And, I'm a big eater, capable of eating serious amounts of food. Finally, it was announced that we were getting breaded veal chops.
As we tried to breathe and talked of the wine and the food, the non-Italian client said that we should expect to see a tennis racket when they brought out the veal chop. He was right, as the veal chop had been pounded and flattened so that it barely fit on the large dinner plate. The bone had been frenched so that it was bare, except where the meat was attached to it. It looked like a Wienerschnitzel, but with a bone attached. With a squeeze of lemon juice the taste was absolutely divine. I'm not sure how I managed it, but when I was done nothing but the bare bone remained on my plate. The same was true around the table.
The waiter, unbidden then brought out a large bowl of fresh salad, and served a small amount to each of us. He said this was to clear the palate for dessert. So we each had a few bites to accomplish this function. By now I was looking for a hoist to lift me off the chair when we were ready to leave.
The Italian client again began to negotiate with the waiter and Silvano about dessert. After about 5 minutes of back and forth Silvano turned to me and said in English.. did you understand what we were saying. I said, "yes, you don't have what she wants, and what you have she doesn't want". He laughed and nodded and then they negotiated for another five minutes. What came out was unbelievable and beyond belief. First, a semifreddo Orange/citrus cake, essentially orange/cream gelato in cake shape, with a slice that was rather large. Next, fresh fig fritters that were light and airy and included an entire very ripe fig inside each fritter. One big bite took in the whole fritter, with the fried dough on the outside and the fig on the inside. Then, a vanilla ice cream dish drizzled with 15 year old balsamic vinegar. Finally, a fresh mango and a fresh pineapple quarter cut and elegantly presented.
The non-Italian client asked Silvano if he could have the wine list back to look at the ports. Silvano said they only have two, a 20 year old port and a 35 year old port. We each got the 35 year port. To say it was like liquid gold would have been appropriate. But, it was divine.
Finally, an espresso and we were done. Two hours of inexpressible ecstasy. The espresso cutting through the haze of the lunch and the sense that within minutes and for many hours afterwards the body would remind the brain how much food had been stuffed into the body.
I thought about trying to estimate the number of calories, or quantity of food or some other objective indication of the meal, but decided this was both impossible and unnecessary. The cost... no answer, but based just on the items I knew, must assume that it was well over $1000 for the four of us.
So, the gourmet in me and gourmand in me were both blown away. Anyone else have a meal they can share with us?
The restaurant selected was Da Silvano (http://www.dasilvano.com/) which is in lower manhattan on Sixth Avenue, a Tuscan restaurant which has been one of the very good Italian restaurants in the city for the last 25 or 30 years. It is also known as a celebrity hangout and is owned/managed/operated by its eponymous owner Silvano Marchetto.
One of the clients is an Italian woman of some style and class(in addition to being a world class gourmet.. though she probably tips the scale at 100 pounds only when wearing heavy jewelry), and she only orders through "her" waiter who's from a small town near her hometown in Tuscany or Silvano himself(sometimes both of them together). The other client is a true gourmet, though of local origin, and the confirmed master of the wine list as well as sushi and sashimi.
Upon being seated and bowed and scraped over, the two clients, a colleague of mine and I were seated at a table on their sidewalk area(it being a perfect low seventies day in New York, ideal for eating, drinking and watching the passing flow of humanity). A bread basket with various fresh, wonderful breads was placed on the table with both olive oil and butter. This was followed by a piece of rough butcher's paper with a number of slices of salami with serious chunks of aged parmigiano reggiano cheese.
Promptly, a wine was selected. It was a wonderful combination of the sangiovese, cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc grapes which was fruitfully aromatic with hints of all sorts of herbs and finishing notes. A glance at the wine list reflected that it was offered at $150 for the bottle. Needless to say, I sipped it frequently to tease out all the flavors and subtleties of the wine.
Next began the initial negotiation between the Italian host and her waiter over the selection of appropriate appetizers. Much in the way that Chinese folks appear to be screaming at each other, the Italians always seem to be arguing, with arms akimbo and facial motility expressing the spectrum of emotions. Having been there before with the clients I knew that we would be seeing the fried zucchini flowers, but didn't know if the client could convince them to make a special version for her stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies. She succeeded. In addition, we got a thinly sliced chicory salad with anchovy and garlic sauce, an eggplant parmigiano in a porcelain crock which was so good I couldn't resist sweeping the remaining sauce out of the crock with a hunk of the crispy bread. There was also a fava bean with shrimp dish that was unbelievable.. with the fava bean soft, but not mushy and somehow infused with the aroma and flavor of the shrimps which were pristine and perfectly sauteed.
By the time we'd finished this course the first bottle of wine was done and another had been dispatched to the table. While the portions were not huge, most light eaters would have been done with their meals at this point. Next, we were told that there was a special in the pasta dishes of gnocchi with lobster and asparagus tips. It was determined that my colleague and I and the non-italian client would have this, the Italian having a collection of three pastas in a pomodoro sauce. As we were discussing this, the waiter brought out a huge white truffle on a big ceramic dish covered with raw rice. You could smell the truffle from three or four feet away. We were told that the truffle was about one and a half pounds(something like $1500-2000 worth of fungus). Immediately, the non-italian client insisted that we must have something with the white truffle. So, after some Italian negotiation, it was determined to have a risotto with the white truffle. The final word from the non-Italian client.. make it a big order for the whole table(n.b. the menu had a listing for an appetizer portion of the truffle risotto for $125).
The gnocchi were seriously to die for. If any of you are fans of gnocchi you know that most of the gnocchi to be had are like mini canon balls. Occasionally you get light, fluffy, delicious gnocchi. And rarely, you have gnocchi that are so soft and delicious it is like eating clouds of ambrosia... with the gnocchi literally melting in your mouth. This was the variety we received that day.. with the lobster chunks and sauce and tips of asparagus providing a medley of textures, tastes, aromas and mouth feels. The portion was a full dinner portion of gnocchi, but so good that one could not stop eating... well, except that right after the gnocchi appeared, out came the risotto.
If you've ever had the pleasure of having a dish with truffles, part of the fun is usually the owner or maitre d' will appear and with great ceremony slice off several paper thin pieces of the truffle onto your dish. We didn't get the ceremony, but.. our large flat bottomed bowl of risotto was covered with a multitude of slices of the white truffle. In fact, the low dome shaped mound of risotto was encased in truffle slices. Like a mirrored disco ball with the mirrors covering every surface of the ball, so the truffle slices seamlessly covered the risotto so that every forkfull of risotto included at least one slice of truffle. To say that it was heavenly would be an understatement. The risotto itself was cooked to perfection, not crunchy and not mushy, but perfectly cooked with cheese adding a depth of flavor(we were told by Silvano there were actually three cheeses in the risotto), but not making it too cheesy. And again the portion size was so large that one half of the portion would have made a good dinner main course for a normal eater.
I was shocked that I was still eating and was able to finish both the gnocchi and the risotto. And, the second bottle of wine failed to last the course and was replaced by a third bottle.
At this point the Italian client began negotiating again with the waiter and Silvano about a meat course. I sat on in a stupor, already trying to figure out how I would rise from my chair when the meal was over. And, I'm a big eater, capable of eating serious amounts of food. Finally, it was announced that we were getting breaded veal chops.
As we tried to breathe and talked of the wine and the food, the non-Italian client said that we should expect to see a tennis racket when they brought out the veal chop. He was right, as the veal chop had been pounded and flattened so that it barely fit on the large dinner plate. The bone had been frenched so that it was bare, except where the meat was attached to it. It looked like a Wienerschnitzel, but with a bone attached. With a squeeze of lemon juice the taste was absolutely divine. I'm not sure how I managed it, but when I was done nothing but the bare bone remained on my plate. The same was true around the table.
The waiter, unbidden then brought out a large bowl of fresh salad, and served a small amount to each of us. He said this was to clear the palate for dessert. So we each had a few bites to accomplish this function. By now I was looking for a hoist to lift me off the chair when we were ready to leave.
The Italian client again began to negotiate with the waiter and Silvano about dessert. After about 5 minutes of back and forth Silvano turned to me and said in English.. did you understand what we were saying. I said, "yes, you don't have what she wants, and what you have she doesn't want". He laughed and nodded and then they negotiated for another five minutes. What came out was unbelievable and beyond belief. First, a semifreddo Orange/citrus cake, essentially orange/cream gelato in cake shape, with a slice that was rather large. Next, fresh fig fritters that were light and airy and included an entire very ripe fig inside each fritter. One big bite took in the whole fritter, with the fried dough on the outside and the fig on the inside. Then, a vanilla ice cream dish drizzled with 15 year old balsamic vinegar. Finally, a fresh mango and a fresh pineapple quarter cut and elegantly presented.
The non-Italian client asked Silvano if he could have the wine list back to look at the ports. Silvano said they only have two, a 20 year old port and a 35 year old port. We each got the 35 year port. To say it was like liquid gold would have been appropriate. But, it was divine.
Finally, an espresso and we were done. Two hours of inexpressible ecstasy. The espresso cutting through the haze of the lunch and the sense that within minutes and for many hours afterwards the body would remind the brain how much food had been stuffed into the body.
I thought about trying to estimate the number of calories, or quantity of food or some other objective indication of the meal, but decided this was both impossible and unnecessary. The cost... no answer, but based just on the items I knew, must assume that it was well over $1000 for the four of us.
So, the gourmet in me and gourmand in me were both blown away. Anyone else have a meal they can share with us?
