Lobster heaven

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The Twisted Sisters are in town from Shanghai, and it's been over a year since I last saw either of them, and even longer since I saw the two of them together.  I got the call last week about their visit, and was asked to pick a place for our get together.  Since the preferred cuisine was "Western", I didn't even hesitate before picking up to phone to book a table at On Lot 10.

This would be my lone cheat meal this week, as I really needed to get back on track after last week.  After checking with my visitors and asking them to choose the one dish they would want to pre-order, I sent the request over to David.  I also reminded him that, as I'm still on my diet program and I was only coming with two visitors who couldn't pack leftovers home, that we would likely not need too much food.

We became a party of four earlier today, and I was thinking that we could take on a liiiiittle more food but still didn't wanna go crazy.  After picking a couple of starters, I was informed that there would be a couple of other things that David had arranged, so we already had enough food…

Homemade pâté - I've had David's pâté before and always liked it.  I didn't ask for the ingredients this time, but it tasted pretty good regardless.  I just love the taste of liver.  The marinated Spanish chili peppers were a little spicy, and the radish is always good.

Scallop crudo artichoke heart, Parmesan emulsion and truffle - this was pretty nice.  Sliced scallop carpaccio on top of a bed of diced artichoke and carrots, with shaved black truffle and finely chopped chives.  The Parmesan and milk foam, along with olive oil, added the final touches.

Mesclun salad

Baby geoduck - absolutely delicious, with plenty of butter and spices.  Felt so good to eat something cooked in butter…

Soupe de poisson, rouille and parmesan - hmmm… we didn't get any rouille on the side tonight.  But the soup itself was already delicious, just lightly spiced with piment d'espelette.

On Lot 10 paella - I asked David to prepare this for us, not knowing exactly what kind of seafood would be in the pan when it showed up.  The last time I had it there were two big flower crabs along with sea urchin, and I've seen other friends get crabs on top of theirs recently.

So imagine my reaction when David brought the pan in and told us we would be having lobster tonight.  While the regular menu also serves up lobster, we were getting not just a soft-shell Maine lobster, but also a soft-shell French homard bleu.  What a treat!  I've seen David post pictures of lobsters that have just molted, but I've never actually had soft-shell lobsters before myself.  Now I managed to have not one but two of them together!

David gave us a chance to compare the two lobsters side by side, and asked me to think about which one I liked better.  Well… there was never gonna be any doubt which one I'd prefer…  It has nothing to do with the fact that homard bleu comes at a higher price, and I believe the gap has recently widened thanks to a big increase in catch numbers for Maine lobsters.  Homard bleu simply delivers flavors that are much more intense, and while the Maine lobster is meaty and delicious in its own right, it just pales in comparison.  There were also nice chunks of lobster tomalley, which I happily gobbled up.

We were of course unable to finish the darned thing, so the leftovers were packed up and given to the Sister's friend living in Hong Kong.

Sauté spinach

Bacon roasted brussel sprouts - yum… and with b-a-c-o-n…

This chocolate cake has many layers, including coffee.  Not bad.

The cherry crumble was pretty good, too.

We were a bunch of lightweights tonight, and only managed to finish 1 bottle of bubbly.  I guess that helps me keep the calorie count down…

Egly-Ouriet Brut Tradition Grand Cru - savory minerals, a little like hard cheese, with caramelized and cane sugar.

What a treat!  I dunno when I'll get a chance to get soft-shell lobsters again like I did tonight.  If only it had been an ordinary night without my diet program… Slurp...