Three stars, zero gold

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It's been a while since the Landlord and I caught up over a meal, and much longer since we last had some wine together.  For us there is no better venue to dine out than at Caprice, so I asked Hairy Legs to take care of us at the Chef's Table, and proceeded to work out the wines my friends and I would bring.  I then happened to run into Mir and figured we could make it into a bigger party.

Yesterday, though, Hairy Legs messaged me to tell me about his injury, and proceeded to send me pictures of his (very) hairy foot...  Naturally the team is capable of taking care of us without him being around, so I wasn't the least bit worried. I expected to be served dishes from the new, spring menu, and I wasn't disappointed.

We started with the usual trio of amuses bouches:

Button mushroom and foie gras gelée tart - always tasty with those mushroom flavors.

Balik salmon with Kristal caviar

Pita with curry chicken mousse - curry, curry.

Scottish langoustine, white asparagus, razor clams - there were thin discs of seafood gelée underneath the oscietra caviar (which I assume to be Kaviari Kristal). On the side there was rectangular block with verbena and marscapone cream on top of a mélange of diced white asparagus, clam, and razor clam tartare. The clams made the texture pretty interesting, and the creamy verbena was pretty nice, although the dill fronds made their presence known. The execution was certainly good, and the flavors were refreshing, although without any sauce, it kinda felt a little "naked" to me.

Suveg made it a point to tell me that he wasn't giving me any gold leaf on top, which was sooooo disappointing!

White asparagus, sea urchin, Kristal caviar, with saffron sauce - the white asparagus from Provence was served with Hokkaido sea urchin, Kaviari Kristal caviar, lemon gel, dill, and salicornia. As expected, the saffron sauce was absolutely beautiful.

Mashed potatoes with Kristal caviar, vintage Champagne sauce - I had jokingly complained to Hairy Legs Foot a couple of months ago that I don't get served the same dishes that many of my other friends seemed to be getting, and this was an obvious one that I hadn't tried. So here we go... A very simple dish with straightforward flavors, and that Champagne sauce was pretty damn nice. Once again, though, I didn't get no stinkin' gold leaf... Pout.

Rouget, asparagus, sea urchin and wasabi sauce - I'd been hearing about this new dish featuring red mullet for a few weeks, and finally got to try it. Plenty of fresh asparagus here in the ragoût, and we've also got diced razor clams hiding under some dill fronds.

The beautiful fish came with a layer of shellfish stuffing underneath, which was very delicious. That sea urchin wasabi sauce was very, very interesting. Without a doubt my favorite dish of the evening, and the first without any caviar on top.

Greffeuille lamb rack with chickpea "cremeaux", stuffed Swiss chard - the lamb rack roll was so, sooooo good... Absolutely tender and full of fatty, lamby flavors. The Swiss chard came with lamb shoulder and bell peppers, with ras el hanout. Really, really happy to have tasted this.

Selection of cheese - Palet de Chevre, Palouse des Aravis, 40-month Comté, Chaource, and Roquefort.

Brown sugar cake with kiwi, mango, and pineapple - with passion fruit coulis, mango sorbet, lime cream.  Very tropical and refreshing.  Among my favorite pre-desserts.

Strawberry sphere, lemon and basil cremeaux, Garigeutte sorbet - with fresh strawberries and strawberry jam along with a basil/sesame tuile.  All on top of a crescent-shaped sablé.  Very nice, too...

In spite of being very, very full, I still made sure I devoured the mignardises...

Strawberry religieuse 

Lemon tart 

This was some sort of lemon and milk chocolate combo.

Chocolates

Banana bread

With this crowd there would always be a lot of wine. In fact, one of us doesn't really care for French cuisine... and only came for the wine...

2011 Egly-Ouriet, dégorgée en juillet 2020 - beautiful wine, nicely balanced, and a little toasty on the nose.

2005 Vincent Girardin Bâtard-Montrachet - premoxed and undrinkable.

1992 Kistler Chardonnay McCrea Vineyard - really lovely and toasty nose, almost coffee-like, with aged tangerine, sweet vanilla, and a hint of cloves on the nose.  Good acidity here and not overripe or premoxed at all.

2018 Henri Boillot Puligny-Montrachet 1er cru Clos de la Mouchère - surprisingly with tropical stone fruits on top of toasty notes.  Pretty alcoholic, with good acidity.

2001 Cos d'Estournel - decanted for 1 hour prior to serving.  Minty, smoky, ripe fruit, with some coconut.

1986 Ducru-Beaucaillou - opened not long before serving.  Much more savory, with sweet grass notes typical of a St. Julien.  Very smooth by now.

2010 Lucien Le Moine Meursault 1er Cru Perrières - initially slightly corked, with grassy and vegetal notes.  Improved 2 hours later, with some ripeness along with acidity on the palate.

Very, very happy. Would have been happier with gold on my caviar, though... Time to let Hairy Foot know.