Another multi-course night

As my backlog of photos grows, and half-finished posts build up, I still always end up wanting to show more recent content. And the cycle continues. Friday night involved a two-part dinner and two doses of great company. I started off in the West Village at Cabrito, meeting old and new photographer friends (hi Cindy, Seth, Bryan, Jennifer, and Daniel!), while trying very hard not to ruin my appetite for my next dinner at Cafe Boulud in the Upper East.

This was all around a great tasting - especially because it hit on so many of the dishes I was eyeing up in the a la carte menu and couldn't decide between. Since there were five of us, for most courses, we got three of one dish and two of another, which made for even greater tasting variety. The amuse consisted of a peekytoe crab salad, beausoleil oyster, and I think a slice of salmon. Next arrived a chicken terrine with black truffle and some sort of tuna and couscous dish. Then we all received the short rib dumplings (good thing, because I wouldn't want to share these!). After that came pumpkin tortellini and some potato pasta-y dish (not gnocchi, but memory fails me), both rich and hearty. We then got two fish dishes - a striped bass and a dorade. The last savory was a roasted quail and beef prepared a few ways. Finally, we were each presented with a different dessert. As I eyed the other ones greedily, we decided to each take a fifth or so, and pass the plate on. It turned out my dessert (a poached pear with some addicting crispier bits) was probably the winner of the night. The pumpkin cheesecake was, of course, wonderful too, but hell I'd probably eat rocks if you put pumpkin on it.

Cafe Boulud is definitely definitely worth revisiting in the near future. The service is also impeccable here and rivals that of four-star restaurants. We ate happily until nearly midnight. Not a bad Friday night if I do say so myself.