in good company with Danny & Comapny

9月是開學的季節、是秋天的開始、是Green Day的名歌 -- Wake me up when September ends --在radio上會被狂播100次的月份、也是媽媽的生日。

開始了這份工作以後，周末幾乎都無法休假。9月的某個周末，特別安排了假，結果久久沒去的我，這一次竟然寺裡哭了出來(苦笑)。

吹著微涼的山風平復心情，我結束了my talk with the passed ones, 一起和家人到了四維路的"Danny & co"享用a very late lunch. 

↑坐落於四維路上，與眼鏡咖啡是鄰居

Danny & Company 在虛擬世界裡頭被分享的照片以及文章之詳盡，因此我毋須多介紹。只不過這次的用餐經驗讓我印象深刻，也頗感動。當然，食物和服務不在話下，餐廳裡頭的senior staff對於的美食的knowledge和態度也令人很感心。除了顯現出這家餐廳staff的professionalism以外，也多少透露出(某部份的)staff對這個公司的信任已及向心力。

Lunch menu從$900 - $2000左右不等，看主餐選的是甚麼。餐前的麵包是他們委託外面廠商bake的麵包，外皮烤的酥脆麵包和搭有點蘑菇(?)味的butter很開胃，麵包吃的出來是手工做的(雖然底部沒有麵包師傅的簽名，笑)，很原味。用手撥開可以看到不規則的空氣洞，應該是用天然酵母發酵的"傑作"。

↑一不小心，就可以吃下好幾個這個呢！

前菜我們選了干貝、salmon tartar還有鴨肝派 (Foie Gras Terrine)，互相share. 值得一提的是爸爸點的鴨肝派，店裡的經理向爸爸推薦搭配Mouscat的白酒一起喝，對於酒只有faint idea的我都知道Mouscat的白酒頗甜，而一向不嗜甜的爸爸，當然先是抗拒...卻在試酌後，信服於店經理的推薦下(笑)。但是部得不說的，這杯白酒配這道Terrine還真是恰到好處。我不知道為甚麼吃一口鴨肝派配一口這白酒，讓我想到了"Spanglish"這部電影裡頭的場景。

↑鴨肝派

湯品的部分我們點了沒有在menu上的海鮮高湯(consommé). 熬煮高湯很費時，當然食材得夠好，才不會白白的浪費這些effort. 之所以湯頭可以這麼晶瑩剔透就是因為長時間的simmer讓食材的殘渣浮到湯面，在去蕪存菁後，剩的湯就是菁華。這道湯品serve的時候，只有盤中央的魚肉塊和番茄，高湯是服務生在面前直接倒入盤中的，也說到上是一種視覺享受。

↑海鮮高湯

說來慚愧，我對於牛肉並沒有太大的研究和涉獵，我只知道我吃到好吃的牛肉的時候是甚麼樣的感覺，但我並不了解其背後的原因和故事。我也無法細分每種不同的牛肉帶有的甜味、嚼勁或是筋度(笑)。So I'll let the pictures tell the stories, however, simply said, I enjoyed each slice of it with a dab of fleur de sel. 

↑ American Kobe N.Y. Strip Steak with morel sauce

美國神戶紐約客佐羊肚蕈醬汁

↑ USDA Ribeye Cap Steak

美國冷藏老饕牛排佐烘烤大蒜和時蔬

↑ USDA Prime New York Rossini with mashed potato
燒烤紐約客羅西尼搭香煎鴨肝和馬鈴薯泥佐紅酒醬汁

正餐的結束是另一個高潮 -- 甜點。還好老爸部吃甜品，所以I get another extra dish! 我點了熔岩巧克力和Blueberry Cupcake，姊姊點了crème brûlée.

我先吃的是藍莓杯子蛋糕，上頭乘的是現打的mascarpone cheese和榛果碎片。蛋糕體的下面鋪的是藍莓醬和mint oil. 蛋糕最忌諱的是乾，還有沒味道 -- 可以不甜 -- 但不能連個味道都沒有啊! 還好這份甜點沒有這樣的問題，從上切下去一口吃的話，口感豐富: 有椹果的脆片、mascarpone cheese的柔軟，還有沾覆著sauce 的 spongecake! 很棒。

↑藍莓杯子蛋糕

再來吃的就是熔岩巧克力，這個聽說是他們的經典菜單。當然這款甜點的特色(及弱點吧!?)就在於它的壽命十分的短! 除了要趁熱將巧克力蛋糕頗開，欣賞巧克力漿流出來的樣子外，還有就是要趁那球raspberry ice cream還沒融化前一起吃。

↑每一瞬間都是關鍵

巧克力的味道吃起來有苦甜巧克力混這一點牛奶巧克力的味道，當然，為了要讓巧克力漿流的漂亮，加點融點低的牛奶巧克力是應該的(吧?)。

 ↑若是我爸的話，肯定會說這是幅印象派的畫... whatever that means

巧克力和Raspberry的結合就像我之前說的，是Big Bang. 在吃過這道甜點後，我仍是這麼的堅持(笑)。

↑姊姊點的crème brûlée

飯後我們和店裡的staff稍微聊了一下，他們也無私的share了一些店裡餐點的做法給我們。也許是一種互相交流的感覺makes you feel ultra-friendly eating there.. a little homey almost. 當然這是他們的一個優勢，也是讓他們餐廳和其他餐廳不同的地方。

↑雖然我咖啡都不加糖，但這實在是太可愛了。

↑讓爸爸和經理struck up a conversation的就是Laguiole的刀子/開瓶器

這家餐廳，是我會想要帶很久不見的好友去的店。

Danny & Company (homepage)

今天，寫了這麼長，還是想要share一首歌。朋友介紹的 "I hate you buy I love you" by Russian Red..

製於 Drive 裡頭feature的歌，因為實在是太愛了，等我有時間一一介紹好了。

finer things in life

I'm lucky, my body is very cooperative when I enjoy the finer things of life. No lactose intolerance, no bulimia nervosa, no known food allergies to peanuts or shellfish or eggs etc. And yesterday, the finer thing in my life was realized at Ruth's Chris Steak House.

This is the menu book of Ruth's Chris Steak House - Leather cover with gold embossed letters, classy...

The three of us shared an order of Porthouse Steak, Ruth's Chop salad, and with dessert, an order of crème brûlée. The restaurant also provides complementary bread and butter. I'm not eloquent with words at all, so the pictures will have to tell the story for me. The dinner itself is the epitome of how a meal enlightens my life - being able to taste food of such delicatecy and deliciousness, my whole life was worth it. The steak at RC's..outdid every other piece of steak I had in my life. And now it feels kinda disrespectable to even mention the restaurant names that served what I thought was "steak" in the same paragraph.. as though this would've tarnished their name.

This was the fillet we had last nite. Cooked to medium rare, meat was tender and extremely juicy, there needed no sauce at all, a pinch of sea salt was almost even too much. The sizzling butter was made possible by the super heated hot plate.

The Porthouse Steak. On the otherside of the bone was New York Strips. This is such a big portion of steak, even shared among 3, we had trouble finishing our own portions.

This is the crème brûlée we ordered. The creme was filled with vanilla seeds, making it so fragrant and tasty. The strawberries and blueberries balanced the dessert so it wouldn't become sickening after the fifth bite. This is actually one serving, can you believe it?

The dinner was so satisfying. We all went home with an exploded stomach. I really appreciate Ruth's Chris Steak House for serving and appreciating gourmet food. This would be another restaurant I wanna work at. When I do get the chance, I will talk about Aqua in Taichung. Food is my passion, my career, my goal, and I hope I'd never forget it.

PS. I bought the salt and pepper grinders today, finally! Say good-bye to sucky ol' table s&p!