I have been in spring cleaning mode today. And as part of that, I cleaned out all of my purses. And in one of those purses, I came across the menu from the Valentine’s Day tasting menu at La Belle Vie. The menu that I discretely (and embarrassingly) slipped into my purse mid-meal because I knew I had to keep this menu in my personal files. It was the single best meal of my life, and I’m guessing it will remain on a top ten list forever.
Because of this, I’m ashamed that this dining experience has not made its way to my blog yet. But I know exactly why it hasn’t.
I've been afraid to try to write about it. I do not have the words needed to give this meal justice. I’m not armed with the perfect technical culinary words to even try explain what I experienced.
The best I can do is recite an over-used acronym: OMG.
Oh
My
God.
An amazing meal. Truly amazing. Not a casual amazing that is thrown around too often to mean anything. A real, honest to god, amazing.
That night, chef Tim McKee himself was walking around talking to some of the tables. This brought forth very conflicting feelings in me. Part giddiness at the thought of meeting the best chef in Minnesota. Even bigger part terror that he actually would stop by and I would have to come up with something completely brilliant to say to match his more than brilliant food. But, our table was not on his route that night. Phew. Saved from a potentially mortifying encounter.
It was a dining experience that you realize midway through will probably never be replicated. You want to grab hold of it and never let it go. You get giddy with how delicious everything is that you’re tasting. And you actually physically shake your head in disbelieve that someone can actually create food like that.
Food like Poached Lobster with Salsify Tortelli, Black Trumpet Mushrooms and Red Wine, which was by far the most amazing course of this amazing meal.
It was unlike anything I’ve ever tasted, and I have been wondering if Tim McKee would put it on the menu permanently if I promised to go there once a week and order it. I’ve also contemplated making it my lifelong goal to replicate it. I know I need to have it again. I’m just not sure yet how that will happen.
I’ll let you take a look at the rest of the menu yourself—you’ll start to get the faintest idea of what I mean.
(You won’t see any photos because it was Valentine’s Day...and my poor husband finds it embarrassing when I pull my camera out every time we go out to eat…so…I decided to leave the camera at home…it was Valentine’s Day, after all…)
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