3rd Time at the Inn and we didn’t strike out!

Oh what a wonderful experience we had. It was amazing. We were a bit worried because you never expect something to be better the second time you go let alone the 3rd.

We left the house around 3 in the afternoon and arrived at little Washington around 4:30. We settled in and went for a walk just to get our blood pumping, dinner wasn’t until 8:30 so we had time. When we checked in the Innkeeper at the Gay Street inn asked if we would like some wine but we declined at that point and did the walk. By the time we got back he were ready for the wine but no Inn keeper was to be found. They went to dinner at a friend’s house and left a number to call if anything was needed. We decided we could wait for the dinner.

We really wanted the wine at that point, because he had put the idea in our head, so we walked back up to the Inn at Little Washington to the store that they have. Which happened to close about ten minutes before we got there. We knew that they had wine but it was too late. Nothing else was open so we went back to our inn to take a nap.

The nap was good, we woke up refreshed and decided to take showers and go earlier to the inn then our reservation was for. We were told earlier that they where kind of slow that evening so we could come in earlier if we wanted.

So we dressed in what I would call fabulous conservative, with sports coats and cuff links and walked on over to the Inn.

When we got there we where met at the front by the doorman who knew out names and asked us to come in. Once in we were asked if we wanted a cocktail, which we declined because we knew that we were going to have copious amounts of wine once we sat down. Three to four people greeted us and we were then lead to “the most romantic table” table by a very happy headwaiter that exclaimed this as we walked past quite a few other tables. Kind of funny and a bit embarrassing, we just smiled and headed toward our gorgeous table.

Once we settled in at this most amazing table, we ordered Champaign. One rose for me and one White for Dave. This was a repeat of the 40th birthday dinner for Dave that we had at the Plaza Athanade in Paris. The table was at the end of a long corridor with windows on both sides and a little creak running underneath with gold fish swimming below. We then started reading the menu, oh my goodness what a menu. We had already decided what we were going to do, which was the tasting menu but it was a hard choice. Here’s what we had, and we paired it with wine.

1. A quartet of Island Greek Oyster Slurpees with Grosset-Hill Smith, Mesh, Riesling, Eden Valley Australia, 2005 as the wine
2. A Tin of Sin: American Ossetra Caviar with a Crab and Cucumber Rillette with Feudi San Gregorio, Pietracalda, Fiano Di Avellino, Campania, Italy, 2004 as the wine
3. Morel Dusted Diver’s Scallops and Louisiana Crayfish on Carmellini Beans Dress with summer truffle Vinaigrette with Domain Chapoutier, La Bernardine, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Rhone, France 2004 as the wine
4. Potato Crusted Tuna Wellington with Caponata Rivioli and Bearnaise with Westbrook, Blue Ridge, Pinot Noir, Marlborough, New Zealand, 2005 as the wine
5. Braised Veal Cheek with Saffron Risotto with Hillinger, Hill 1 Burgenland, Austria, 2005 as the wine
6. Lilliputian Passion Fruit Dreamsicle No wine
7. A Limoncello Souffle with Lemon Ice Cream with Vietti, Moscato d;Asti, Cascinetta, Piedmont, Italy, 2005 as the wine.

We also had an amuse bouche to begin with that consisted of one small shrimp dish, one small tuna dish, one small beet and caviar dish and one small mango Virginia ham dish. These all came out in small spoons. They were wonderful. We received a plum soup to try and to cleanse our pallet too. So if you think about it we had nine courses and life was good.

At the end of the meal one of the waiters quietly came down our corridor and opened a door onto the garden to my right, she opened it just a little bit but both Dave and I noticed. A little while later I see a figure in the garden moving toward the ajar door, he was coming from the kitchen across the way. The next thing I know Patrick O’Connell opens the door and comes over to our table. What a great surprise. He chatted with us for a good ten minutes and wished us a happy anniversary. That is one of the reasons why the Inn at little Washington is such a wonderful place to go, the personal attention and the thought put into everything.

We stopped by the Monkey bar an had a single malt scotch just because we had to. Not that we needed anymore drink but it was fun and we then paid.

OUCH!

But worth it.

We stumbled back to our Inn at around 11 being one of the last to leave the restaurant. Went to bed and got up around 8ish this morning to have a wonderful breakfast at our Inn. I’m fooded out at this point but Little Dave is coming over tonight for more food and wine.

Like I say it’s a hard life but someone has to live it.

Oh, and I think I fixed and issue with the exchange server. All in less then 36 hours.