Another black truffle evening

I met up with a friend for dinner on her only night in town as she "transits" in between 2 trips.  I hadn't expected to go back so soon after my last visit, but I found myself at On Lot 10 once again.  As this was a last-minute decision, I hadn't given David time to prepare anything out of the ordinary, but that was completely fine.  We sat down and waited for David to send out goodies from the kitchen.

I brought a bottle of 2006 Selbach-Oster Riesling Kabinett "Fish" to drink casually.  Typical nose showing lots of petrol, plastic, ripe fruits, citrus rind and minerals.  Actually a little sweeter than I expected from a kabinett.

We started with radish once again, this time with a dip made with black olives that tasted like tapenade with lots of olive oil.

David warned me that his current stock of artichokes was smaller than the ones we had earlier, and sure enough, what arrived in front of us looked a little malnourished... Nevertheless this was still impressive and interesting for anyone who's never eaten artichoke in this fashion.  The anchoïade was AWESOME.

My eyes opened at the sight of these lovely black truffle and foie gras crostini.  A couple of weeks ago David had wow'ed us with mackerel crostini, and tonight I felt like a Pavlov's dog in training...  Is it possible not to love something that has lots of black truffle slices and foie gras on top?  As I reflected while chewing the contents that were in my mouth, letting the fragrance of black truffles infuse with the soft, fatty and juicy flavors of the foie, the answer was a resounding "No".

As we were sitting outside and the evening was a little cool, the kitchen sent us a bowl of stew.  David's take on petit salé aux lentilles has a lot more ingredients: on top of the lentils and lardons, there were also small scallops, black truffles, chanterelles, pig's trotters and a soft poached egg at the bottom.  It was a little busy, and the scallops were a little chewier than I'd normally like, but I loved the hearty, wintery feel of this dish.

The seafood soup came and tasted lovely.  I noticed that the sprinkle of piment d'espelette powder was sweet and not spicy this time around, and the color showed no sign of saffron.  The taste of shellfish was still lovely, though.

We were getting pretty full, and glad when we heard that the roast goose was the only main course coming our way.  This lovely bird was roasted with chestnuts, apples, red cabbage and a generous sprinkle of black truffles.  Very nicely done.  The meat was still pink and juicy, while the skin was brown and delicious.  I made sure that my friend got plenty of chestnuts to keep her happy.

I was expecting some fruit to finish the meal, but it was a little heavier than that...  The truffled brie was very nice... served with cherries and more slices of black truffles.  You could really taste the flavors of the cheese and truffle infusing together.

The almond and strawberry gratin was simple and lovely.

I know that David had already taken his foot off the pedal, but we were still a little stuffed at the end of the meal.  Of course, I'd never complain about too much of David's food... always happy to pack a doggy bag!