Mags in the 'hood

Our visitors from Down Under are still eating their way around town, and tonight I arranged to take them to my favorite restaurant.  The Man in White T-shirt had already spent some time with them in Macau on Sunday, and tonight we would feast at Neighborhood. As usual, we left it up to the boss to decide what the best dishes of the day were.

Pancetta and culatello di zibello "Massimo Spigaroli" - these days we're starting our meals with this combination.  While the pancetta is always damn tasty with that delicious fat, the very special culatello from the hind legs of black pigs always come out on top with their flavor...

Potato salad with smoked eel - with an egg on top.  Nice and smoky aromas.

Hangar steak tartare / caviar / oyster - always a winning combination.  The oyster and beef go so well together, and caviar adds a different dimension.

Pigeon egg / black truffle - with a drizzle of creamy sauce that tasted of parsley... made better with a slice of black truffle.

Lobster / melon - the local rock lobster was very fresh and sweet, and pairing with cantaloupe worked well.  Same with the crunchy romaine lettuce.  Nicely seasoned with piment d'espelette.

Buffalo chicken wings / Roquefort - second time in two weeks.  Yum.

Triple tripe gratin - normally you just get beef tripe here, but tonight we've got beef, pork, and even cod tripe.  Also got some girolles and the usual sprinkle of pepper flakes.  I didn't think the trippa here could get any better, but I was wrong.

Boudin basque / roasted peach - I will probably never get tired of having boudin basque here...  I only wish I could have a bigger stomach for more...

Salt baked 120 day local "Ping Yuen" chicken / ganbajun / morels / giblets rice - so, so good...  One again The Man in White T-shirt baked this with ganbajun (乾巴菌) mushrooms, and the fragrance was so intense and beautiful.  As usual this came loaded with "goodies"... although I left the chicken testicles for the others.

The boss brought this over to show us.  That's the jaw - or half a jaw - of a giant grouper that's over 100 catties...

Giant grouper saffron rice - the jaw was taken back into the kitchen and "further processed", and ended up in this pan of saffron rice.  I hesitate to call this "risotto" because it was simply way too wet...  Anyway, this came with fresh matsutake (松茸) from Yunnan, sea urchin, bouchot mussels, and Cantonese roast pork (燒肉).  I gotta say that adding roast pork was a stroke of genius...  The once crispy crackling soaked up all the wonderful flavors from inside the pan... and one can imagine the result.

A little cup of fish soup... like the bouillabaisse I used to have from the boss.  Lovely touch of fennel.

I was too full to have any of the desserts, and just managed to have myself one little canelé...

This was a wine crowd, and we ended up bringing 4 magnums to dinner.

1998 Vilmart Cuvée Création, en magnum - nice and mature, with big and toasty nose.  A little nutty.  Good acidity on the palate.  Beautiful.

2013 Jean-Marie Fourrier Echezeaux Vieille Vigne, en magnum - minty, eucalyptus, floral with violet notes.  Sooo fragrant and beautiful.

2001 Ramonet Bâtard-Montrachet, en magnum - lovely, toasty nose, with lemon citrus notes.  Ripe and rounded on the palate, but still vibrant.

1990 Camille Giroud Pommard 1er Cru Clos les Epeneaux, en magnum - pretty smoky with a little cedar.

I know I sound like a broken record, but each visit here is a fantastic experience, and The Man in White T-shirt keeps finding ways to surprise me. I'm ever so thankful for this, and happy that our visitors seemed to have enjoyed themselves.