For Oak’s birthday, we decided to go to the chef’s table at the Angus Barn. We’ve been reading lots about chef’s tables, but they’re usually soo expensive. Angus Barn’s is a little more reasonably priced, since it actually includes the wine pairings. And let’s just say, they were not skimpy with the wine.
We were seated in the middle of what we figured out was the group dining kitchen. That is, the stuff that the people we watched people make was for groups in the party rooms. So they were making tons of steaks, tons of salmons, etc. And it was all done in a relatively short amount of time. Pretty amazing to watch, and so calm in comparison with Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen! Then again, I don’t think that things were being done individually by order, it seemed like the waiters would just take the number of rares, mediums, etc. that they needed for a particular table. We were free to walk around the kitchen and ask questions. Oak’s favorite part was the dessert lady – she kept walking by with huge cheesecakes, cakes, etc. from the fridge. Yum.
I should have kept some notes or something, since I haven’t written about this until almost a month later. So forgive my lack of memory/detail.
When I called to make the reservation for the dinner, I got asked if we had foods we didn’t like or were allergic to (salmon, lobster, and shrimp!), so I think that these dishes were adjusted accordingly (I’m guessing maybe the soup had shrimp in its original form). Very nifty!
First course was what they called an “amuse bouche” (which, from my experience in French class — roughly translates to “amusement for your mouth”). It was a kind of bruchetta, but with a thin slice of filet mignon! It was served with a sparkling wine. For the second course, we had a crab soup with a coconut and lime base… pretty exotic for what we were expecting at the Angus Barn!!! For the third course, we had a scallops fettucine. In between the third and fourth course, we had a raspberry sorbet “palate cleanser.” The main course was a filet mignon on risotto. For dessert, we both had huge slices of chocolate cake that we ended up bringing home with blackberry dessert wine.
The wine manager was our main host for the evening — the wine pairings were all delicious. We also got a tour of the famous wine cellar and wine cellar kitchen, which is where our food was prepared. Turns out there’s another version of what we had in the wine cellar kitchen called the “Captain’s table.” In this case you actually get to see the food being prepared… but there is less action there unless a dinner is also occurring in one of the wine cellar dining rooms. We also got to meet the executive sous chefs, but not chef Walter. Sigh! Maybe next time!
The wine cellar events look totally worth it… someday we’ll have to go to either the new year’s eve celebration or one of the murder mystery dinners!
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