a treat

Seldom do I get in on a 4 course fancy meal, but that was a lot of fun. We went to Sage last night, where Taylor does the chef thing. She invited me and her coworker Jenna, their dessert guru. Very fah fah fah - I probably would have been nervous and intimidated, except that, you know, the kitchen staff kept coming out to try to give her lap dances and shit.

Tomfoolery aside, that was a feast. They handed me a menu, and I went for stuff I like that I never, ever eat. Started out with escargot and mushrooms, heavy on the garlic. The kitchen sent out rolls with honey butter and a goat cheese flan thing. (Ha, anyone out there who actually knows fancy food is sort of annoyed with me right now for my lack of descriptive ability.) Someone gave Tay a bottle of good champagne, so we split that.

Let me pause here and say that it's an honest joy to have a waiter who knows her stuff. There is an art and a skill to being right there to pour refills but never get in the way. Being as we were less customers and more guests and peers, we got Emily to tell us about the little stuff that's part of serving in a high class joint, like making sure the bottle label is always toward whomever she's pouring for.

I ordered lamb, Jenna ordered a roast veggie stew, and Taylor just told chef Terry to do what he saw fit. She wound up with Asian surf and sort-of-turf - crusted grouper (I think) and roast duck - which had her just about in tears of joy. We finished up with various desserts, of course. I went with a slice of spice cake, because sometimes T-Bone brings me "ugly" slices of that or their carrot cake after she gets off work, and their cream cheese frosting is just flat perfect.

Her coworkers and bosses are hilarious. We sat around until after everyone else cleared out, complimenting the food and swapping stories about Taylor. The best part was when they would bring out something new, drizzled with various sauces and so on, and present it to the birthday girl, because invariably she would have made most of the dish herself earlier in the day. "Happy birthday! You made yourself dinner rolls!"

I couldn't eat like that all the time, but every now and then a fancy schmancy supper never hurt anyone.

(That's Sage, out by Market Square sort of, in case anyone want to go drop some cash.)