The Man Cave Moves Upstairs...

After what seemed like an impossibly long hiatus during the Holiday Season, etc. the gang finally reconvened at Teddy's house for a meal that promised not to disappoint.  I arrived early & surprisingly sober for a meal that had my mouth watering ever since I got the menu email the day before.

Teddy moved us into the kitchen as the Man Cave has now turned into his home office.  No matter though as we were now much closer to the food & action on the stove. There was a cornucopia of alchohol flowing around as we waited eagerly for the first course.  My personal favourite was the growler of Rouge Deadguy ale which really didn't last long at all (boo!)

First course: Snails, parsley and bacon on duck fat toast.  Teddy powered up his panini press & churned out this excellent opening dish.  The smoked bacon was an excellent addition, but surprisingly not salty at all.  I had expected it to overpower the dish, but the flavor was extremely subtle.  The snails (w/tarragon & rosemary) were really tasty. Velvety, rich (thank God for duck fat!) & morish... Teddy knocked this one out of the park.

We moved right on to the second course; Duck and pork terrine with apricots and pistachios, English Cumberland sauce. Oh Lordy! I was so excited about this dish after seeing it on the menu. The terrine had pistachios, prunes & apricot & was wrapped in bacon (which Teddy called 'the stockings').  It was really dense & tasted awesome.  I thought that the Cumberland Sauce (port, citrus, honey, mustard & stock) was a bit on the sweet side, but it went right down my cakehole like the rest of the food.

We took a break here to compose ourselves & sign our DNR agreements. Skate, ragout of onion, peas and chives, fennel custard, caper crumbs. I was so glad that this course was on the light-side.  I could already feel my arteries constricting...  The pan seared skate (which was dusted with salt, pepper & flour) was light & fresh. The fennel custard (which, unfortunately, is impossible to see in this picture) was the first savory 'flan' that I've ever had.  I say Flan because that was the general consistency of it & boy was it good. Basically made from fennel seed & cream, I have no idea how Teddy came up with this idea, but I'm glad he did.  The peas were prepared with fish stock, cream & chives.  All in all, a light, buttery dish.  The caper crumbs added an awesome little crunch too.

The waft of beefy goodness leaking from the oven had us all begging for this course: Orange and ginger braised beef short ribs, quinoa with wild mushrooms, confit baby tomatoes.  The ribs literally fell apart at the slightest touch.  I didn't even need a knife for this dish.  The ginger & orange was a nice spicy/sweet touch & tangy as well.  The sauce was a bit on the oily side, but I'm not going to complain about that.  This was by far the heaviest dish of the menu, probably due to the truffle butter (I wish you guys could smell this!)

After another break & lots of drinking, we moved on to the last course: 'Manhattan Special' affogato, dark chocolate Marcona almonds.  Honestly, this was the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted since Mike P's Bacon Martini, Hence the lack of pictures.  I don't like floats in any way, shape or form, so this was NOT my cup of tea!  I did manage to pick out most of the coffee ice cream which was awesome.

I'm glad that the club is back in full swing & as a side note, Teddy & Serena had a baby girl today, so I'd like to give a huge high-five to them.  Baby Rome is going to be the best fed child in America!