"Happy Birthday Timberley!!"

...says the plate which hold an impossibly large parfait.  My brother and the kitchen's way of poking fun at Timmy all while giving us one of the greatest culinary experiences of my life. 

On Wednesday, my brother allowed me and timmy go with him to Craft, which was...it's hard to explain, but i'll try...

Thank to my oppa, the chef de cuisine set up a menu for us, disregarding the few things we ordered for the most sinfully delicious food. it's the kind of food you eat even though you are already bursting at the seams because you cannot believe how perfectly seasoned and how perfectly cooked it is. 

We ate/drank...

Champagne

Sea Urchin and Cucumber

Bay Scallops

Game Hen on toast

Assorted Roasted Mushrooms

Roasted Cauliflower

Lobster Pasta

Lamb

Gratin Potatoes

35 Day Dry-Aged Niman Ranch Ribeye

Dry-Aged Sirloin

Pork Belly

Wine throughout the meal

then, the desserts came out...

the Cheese Plate

Glazed Donuts

Banana Cream Pie with Banana and Sarsaparilla Sorbets

Dark chocolate Mousse with Coconut Sorbet

Creme Brulee

a marshmallow-y, vanilla, chocolate parfait

chocolate truffles

passion fruit gelatins

jasmine macaroons

2 dessert wines

green tea

jasmine tea

and the crazy thing is i'm still missing 2 appetizer dishes and one more dessert. how insane does that meal sound?

all throughout dinner i had a chance to see my brother and his colleagues interact. It was nice to see. The chef de cuisine Matt Accarrino came out twice and i just stared at him in awe because his food was too good. starstruck? you betcha!! 

Timmy and i just stared at all of the food with a combination of excitement and fear. fear because the food never stopped coming out of the kitchen. What an experience.

After dinner, Timmy and I had the opportunity to view the kitchen and the minute you step out of the dining room into those swinging doors, you see a whole different world. There are people in blue and white aprons running around doing clean-up. They only had 171 reservations on the books that night, a slow night according to my brother. 

I recognize Ben, my brother's old roommate from Napa, salting and scraping the fish pans in order to clean without washing away the flavor in the pans. But other than Ben and my brother, the kitchen is alien to me. It is shockingly bright and incredibly organized. We see the different stations, meet the incredible cooks, and step into the 3 different walk in refrigerators. The last one is the one where Tim's already huge eyes just about pop out of his head. Yes. It's the meat refrigerator. 3o day Dry Aged meats, Wet Aged Meats, game, chicken, sweetbreads, lamb, everything labeled, everything impossibly out of our budget on an ordinary day. 

We step out of the talented kitchen and back into the dim lighted dining room. As we leave Craft, in a wind tunnel created by the tall buildings that surround it, we let out a laugh. 

now that is a proper happy birthday kind of meal.  unbelievable.