My wife and I scored tickets to another MasterCard Priceless Table dinner. This time the event was held on the Weill roof terrace and in the Weill terrace room at Carnegie Hall. Really, an amazing venue and a once in a lifetime opportunity to dine there.
We went with our food blogger friend Chubby Chinese Girl and her husband.
The views at night were insane.
The evening was catered by Chef Ashley James of STARR events. He has worked in several Michelin star restaurants in England, France, Spain and Germany, and is a frequent guest on Access Hollywood, E! and the Today Show.
Cocktail hour was outside on the terrace, and we enjoyed the music of the Julliard String Quartet from inside.
Cocktail hour, obviously, served us some booze, but it also included passed Hors d’Oeuvres that consisted of mini lamb chop Provencal; crab Louis with Meyer lemon and chive on a house made whole wheat cracker; James River oysters on the half shell with mignonette caviar, micro chives and shaved horseradish; Scottish smoked salmon and cucumber mille feuille; traditional Angus steak tartare on ficelle crostinis; veal sweetbread with Madeira and morel mushroom vol au vent; and watermelon with feta crema, aged balsamic and micro basil.
My favorites of these were actually the tartare and the watermelon. Both were vibrant pops of flavor. Unfortunately the lamb and tartare didn’t come around as often as we would have liked, and I never did see the crab item.
The dinner menu, inspired by the movie Titanic, started with a chilled vichyssoise with Meyer lemon creme fraiche, a baby squash blossom and Petrossian caviar.
This was velvety and smooth. The caviar gave it a nice salty pop. It was my wife’s favorite dish of the night.
The fish course was Lobster Thermidor: Maine lobster with spinach, parmesan, bisque and XO cognac.
This was incredible. The preparation is masterful. The lobster is sitting on top of a bed of cooked spinach which is placed inside the shell, and the lobster meat is then put back into the shell.
The entree was Tournedos Rossini (beef medallion/filet mignon) with foie gras, truffle Madeira jus, Thumbelina carrots and pommes puree. Beautiful.
My cut was perfectly cooked, as you can see. The cuts varied, so other diners had a thinner piece, or an overcooked piece. I enjoyed mine, but nothing comes close to Didier’s version of this at La Sirene.
The dessert was a plated baked Alaska with summer berries:
The ice cream beneath was a little hard, and the marshmallow topping wasn’t as flambéed or as thick as I typically like, but it was still very tasty.
And Petit Fours included French palmiers, macarons, madeleines, and Grand Marnier truffles.
The French palmiers were my favorite, the little curly cookie thing right in the center of the plate. It was buttery, flakey, and both salty and sweet at the same time. I loved it.
The great part is that our ticket price contained a donation to the Stand Up 2 Cancer program, so it’s all for a good cause, just like the other Priceless Table experiences we’ve been going to.