So I'm only a week and a half late on this. Not too shabby. And I was actually supposed to be born on June 10th, so technically I'm really only 1 day late.
My 24th birthday was really awesome and it's not even over yet...but more on that next week! Last Thursday started great. It was beautiful out and I woke up to an amazing surprise from my roommates.
How good do those cupcakes look? They tasted just as delish as the look. Unfortunately the day progressed in a really bad way, with my work laptop crashing via the "blue screen of death". To say the least, work was not fun.
When I got home I quickly got ready because Tom was taking me out for a surprise birthday dinner! He showed up at my house with these gorgeous flowers :)
and then we took an Uber over to Menton!! A little about this incredible restaurant from the website: "Since opening in 2010, the restaurant has received numerous accolades, including a 4 star review from The Boston Globe, being named one of both Bon Appétit and Esquire magazine’s best new restaurants in 2010, and being nominated as a James Beard Foundation Awards 2011 finalist for Best New Restaurant. Menton received the Best Newcomer, Best French, and Best Service distinctions in the Zagat Boston Restaurant Guide 2011-2012 and is Boston's only Relais & Chateaux, AAA Five-Diamond, and Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star property."
I had bookmarked Menton on yelp thinking I would never actually go there. I couldn't believe when we were walking up the steps to actually go in! From the second we walked in until the second we left (nearly FOUR HOURS later) the service was impeccable. We had about 20 different servers (no joke) and all were incredibly attentive, friendly and so knowledgeable.
There are two options for food at Menton: a four-course prix fixe menu and a seven-course chef's tasting menu. The tasting menu was simply a list of 15 ingredients. It was up to the chef to create seven courses for us featuring those ingredients.
We couldn't resist the excitement of a tasting menu so we both went for it. After ordering a bottle of wine, the food started rolling out. I can't remember exactly what everything was, but I'll do my best!
The first bite: some sort of fish in a crispy shell topped with caviar (my favorite of the 4 starter amuse-bouches)
A beet "whoopie pie" with a creamy cheese filling (they did not actually call this a whoopie pie, but it clearly needs to be dubbed one!)
Mini cornbread topped with sauce and caviar
I have no idea what this was, it was the sweetest of the bites and tasted cookie-like
Next up was a tiny tea cup filled with delicious clam chowder. Tiny spoon included!
Followed by the most delicious, flaky, moist, and adorable croissant of all time.
Next up was one of my favorite dishes of the night, halibut tartare with a grapefruit "snow". Tom received something similar with a different type of fish. There were a few courses where the servers brought out two types of the same dish, I think they always picked the best one for me :)
In between courses, 3 types of bread:
Tender Nova Scotia lobster (which according to our waitress are notoriously sweet)
White Asparagus with caviar (I LOVED this even thought I'm typically not a fan of asparagus)
Homemade whole weheat pasta with bacon and some type of liver based sauce for me (yes this looks like worms! But was sooooo good!)
The same pasta with cheese and greens for Tom -- mine was better :)
The star of the meal, foie gras with apricots and house made granola. This was my first time eating foie gras and I was so surprised how much I enjoyed it. Luckily my Top Chef knowledge failed me and I couldn't remember what foie gras was before I started eating (fattened duck liver FYI).
Quail foie gras (I believe) for Tom. These two dishes actually tasted very different and I definitely preferred mine.
Marcho farm veal with mushrooms and fava beans. Another fabulous one!
And for Tom, sweetbreads aka fancy chicken nuggets according to our server. Sweetbreads are neither bread, nor sweet. According to wikipedia: Sweetbreads or ris are culinary names for the thymus (throat, gullet, or neck sweetbread) or the pancreas (heart, stomach, or belly sweetbread) especially of thecalf (ris de veau) and lamb (ris d'agneau) (although beef and pork sweetbreads are also eaten).[1] Various other glands used as food are also called 'sweetbreads', including the parotid gland ("cheek" or "ear" sweetbread), the sublingual glands ("tongue" sweetbreads or "throat bread"), and testicles (cf. Rocky Mountain oyster).[2][3] The "heart" sweetbreads are more spherical in shape, and surrounded symmetrically by the "throat" sweetbreads, which are more cylindrical in shape.
Next up, strip loin of beef with a garlic foam, potatoes and green beans.
At this point I was starting to become insanely full., but when the server asked if we wanted a cheese course I couldn't resists. A man came over with a cart full of delicious and unique cheeses. He explained each one, touching upon the origin, taste, hardness and uniqueness, and then we chose 5 to taste. He gave us a plate with crackers, jam, candied nuts and honey as well.
After the cheese was a little palette cleanser! You know you're getting fancy when your pallette needs to be cleansed.
And finally, dessert! I have no clue what I was given but it was delicous!! Seriosuly, no clue. It has a candle on it too :)
Tom got dark chocolate "polenta" with fresh cherries, coconut ice cream and red pepper flakes. This was spicy!
I thought we HAD to be finished by this point but there was still more to come! A few little bites to finish the night:
A play on tea and biscuits
A lemon puff pastry (Tom ate his before I snapped the photo)
Dark chocoalte ganache
The cutest little macaroons (see how tiny they are compared to the quarter)!
This was seriously the best meal of my life, but I was SOOO full by the end of it. I expected it to be seven tiny courses and was so surprised by the amount of delicious food prepared for us. Overall the best restaurant experience I've ever had :) Major thanks to this guy:
The birthday celebrations continued through the weekend, starting with the Friday night session of the American Craft Beer Fest! I went with Tom and his brother and had so much fun tasting/trying new beers.
The next morning Tom and I were up early to head to Beer & Wine Hobby in Woburn to attend a home brewing class. This was actually my Christmas gift to him but it was fun to include it in my birthday weekend :) The class was really cool and made me want to be a home brewer! It's an expensive hobby though so I definitely need to think about it before investing the money.
After the class I came home and got ready for my friends to come over. We met at my house for some drinks and then went out to Scholars. I love Scholars and need to go more! It was a fun night with way too much drinking by me.
On Sunday morning we all went to the Beehive -- one of my new favorite spots in Boston! I got a Bloody Mary (no idea why I was craving this) and a short rib grilled cheese that was a-maaazing. We sat right by the jazz band and it was really just the perfect brunch.
Overall a fantastic, amazing, awesome birthday full of good people and good food!! Just what I wanted :)
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