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The Adventures of BJ and Tony Morris
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Seeger's
Restaurant Remember our German daughter? Well, our little family has grown. Now we have a German "son" who is a chef. We met Thomas through Carina. He came to visit us for two weeks in March. While he was here, he distributed his resume and called on a number of upscale restaurants. After he returned to Germany, he got a call from Gunter Seeger asking him to come back for an "audition". He came back in June, and of course stayed with us, his American parents. We hardly saw him the entire two weeks because he would leave every day at noon and not return until after midnight. Thursday before he was to depart on Sunday, he invited us to join him for dinner at Seeger's. I was VERY EXCITED about getting to eat at Seeger's after seeing the menu he brought home. Unfortunately, on the appointed Thursday, I got some sort of stomach bug and had to leave work early. I stayed in bed all afternoon, hoping I would feel like going, but everytime I got up, I was hit with another wave of nausea. I finally admitted to Tony and Thomas around 7PM before our 8PM reservation that I just would not be able to go. I asked Tony to take pictures of all of the food for me, but he didn't think that would be appropriate. He did, however, write up his experience: When the valet took our car, he asked for the name the reservation was under. By the time we got around front, to the door, the maitre'd was waiting with a "Good evening. Are we waiting for our third?". We explained that it was just going to be the 2 of us and were shown to a seat in the bar area. Shortly after, a waiter appeared with the menus (at first, I was afraid we were going to be eating at a coffee table in the bar.. that soon passed) for us to study, but Thomas said we'd just take whatever the chef wished to serve. Another server brought out a tiny bowl of popcorn(!), about a cup's worth, with some kind of special butter and parmesan cheese. Then another server brought out 2 tiny pastry shells filled with goat cheese, as a snack. Shortly afterwards, we were moved to our table in the dining room. This was not the "Chef's Table", which has port holes that look into the kitchen, but was right next to it, so I could see Seeger's head move by every now and then. A waiter stopped by to confirm that we were just going to let Gunter take care of us, and to confirm that I did not care for raw fish! (Thomas had told them in advance.) The first amuse buche was a bit of squab gellee with crème fresche and paddlefish roe. Other than the roe, it was tasty! That was followed by a second amuse buche which had promise, but... okay... take a fresh egg, cut the top off of it, so that it looks like the eggs they serve you when you get a poached egg in a cup... except, it's not poached. Now, dribble a little bit of warm cream and a little bit of hot maple syrup into it, and stir. Then stand a little strip of fish jerky about the size of a basil leaf in the egg. That was amuse buche #2. I might have preferred my egg cooked just a bit more... this was almost egg tartare, "warmed by the heat of the chef's hands". Anyway... ate it. A couple of slices of incredibly fresh, restaurant prepared brioche and fresh butter arrived next. About now, the wine started being poured. First was a St. Urban-hof Reisling Since I am not a fish eater, we were served different first plates; a plate of smoked duck ham, with some sweet marinated onions and a pickled fig for me, and a plate of dorade fish pate for Thomas. Very tasty. And since I was now non-fish and Thomas was fish, I was poured a Spanish Rosado (Rose') wine and Thomas got a pour of Sauncere. Second plates kept this separation theme. Thomas hates tomatos like I hate fish. So, his was two fresh, raw, Alaskan oysters on the half shell. Mine was a plate with 6 different kinds of heirloom tomato wedges, some tomato gellee and some tomato mousse. VERY tasty, and it's interesting that the different kinds of tomatos taste so different. About this time, some really good, small, chewy rolls (sea salt, cumin or poppy seed... I had several) starting coming by. Plate three was some porcini mushrooms, a white truffle over a small Georgia peach half. The wines were reversed for this course, so I got the Sauncere and Thomas the Rosado. Next came a course of beets-with-salmon-tartare, and an excellent slice of grilled salmon, served with a horseradish foam. Excellent. This was accompanied by a light red wine from Fluerie. Then came the "main" course. A piece of roasted venison served with cherries and chanterelle mushrooms. A very tasty and full bodied Burgundy wine from the Mercury vineyards in France complemented the course. A thin slice of raisin bread toast was delievered, along with the cheese cart. I picked 3, a blue, a something, and a smoked gouda with cumin, which was my favorite. This was getting us ready for dessert. Which we couldn't have until we were poured a glass of sweet Muscadet dessert wine. Dessert # 1 - a scoop of Lychee sorbet with some sort
of little cake item in the middle. After dessert, Thomas had a cup of esspresso while I just sat and vegged. And finally, Thomas asked for a glass of framboise... which they brought to each of us. Clear, high alcohol, white lightning. We walked out the door; the server had gotten me a menu to take to BJ, since she was unable to accompany me, so we picked that up. And when we got around back, the car was already there, engine running and door open. Good communications. Sorry you missed it! June 15, 2006 Degustation Menu Tartare Oyster Porcini Wild Trall King Salmon Fallow Deer Venison Cheese Degustation Litchi Rhubarb (By Table Only) Paired Wines: $80 Entremets Cheese Desserts Organic Local Gardenias Rhubarb Vidalia Caramel Brulee Napoleon Hot Raspberry Cold Raspberry First Plates Duck Ham Heirloom Tomato Oyster California Foie Gras Second Plates Soup Crayfish Wild Trall King Salmon Sonoma Foie Gras Tart Fish, Poultry, Meats Halibut Fallow Deer Venison California Squab Lamb Loin Four Course a La Carte: $108 I too, am sorry I missed it, when Thomas comes back, I hope he will take me! I WILL take some pictures! BJ |