My best meal ever in 40 years. Paris Post # 2

Since I’m on the subject of Parisian food, let me talk about the most incredible dining experience of my life. Rose made reservations for my birthday at a restaurant called Goumard . This place was just a couple blocks walk from our hotel, The Westin, on rue Duphot.

We had stopped by the day before to glance at the menu. While a little shocked by the sticker price, I didn’t want to pass on a chance to eat at a fine restaurant.

I can’t even begin to do justice to describing the interior and ambience of the restaurant, so check out this link after you read the rest of this post. The restaurant was pure inspiration from the moment we walked in. Our table, if you go to that link, was the third one form the bottom left (the first complete table shown). The paintings on the walls were divine. Read more about them at the Goumard site. But enough on that.

The food. Ah, the food. We were seated and offered a breadstick—about 2 feet long and about ½-inch in diameter. Then we were asked if we’d like an apertif. We selected a sweet white wine to enjoy with another selection of bread while we tried to decide on the rest of the dinner.

For starters (entrée) I ordered the zucchini flower stuffed with fresh crab and Rose chose froglegs with potatoe fingerlings. Both were amazing. My plat (main dish) was roasted John Dory with some kind of vegetable reduction and then roasted veggies. Rose made an excellent choice with roasted sea bass and artichokes. While she didn’t order dessert, I wasn’t going to miss it. So I selected a bitter chocolate sorbet with pastry.

But that’s not all. We also got some kind of concoction that looked like a layered parfait with sweet red pepper, cucumber, salmon and some creamy white thing on top. Rose hated it. I loved it. But it might have been the heavenly bottle wine I was sipping on. I had asked the sommelier to recommend one based on our food choices. He didn’t disappoint. It was the most expensive wine I’ve ever had...but well worth it.

Before dessert came, one of the waiters (we had three serving us) came through with a cheese cart. Instead of selecting, I asked for his recommendations. O.H. M.Y. G.O.D. From pungent blocks to sweetly aromatic slices, I tried what had to be the very best cheeses this Wisconsin girl ever had. I don’t think I can ever go back to cheddar, colby or simple Swiss. At one point, I had a piece of cheese in my mouth and took a sip of that amazing wine. It tasted so good I quivered. Really. It was nearly orgasmic.

I didn’t think the food could get any better, but then my dessert came. Creamy, rich, chocolate sorbet that was more like frozen fudge melting down the back of my throat. The perfect ending to this perfect meal was a Double Express.

You know I love food. All shapes, all sizes, all flavors. This meal spoiled me. I know that I can never hope to recreate the dining experience, because I’ll always be sorely disappointed. But I hope I don’t have to go through life without enjoying such fine food again.

I feel very fortunate that I’m in a place in my life where I can enjoy food in this way. I do think that my sense of taste is heightened. I also have a much greater appreciation for different tastes. I get more pleasure from eating now than I ever have before. Pre-op, I used to think that I’d have to give up so much in my life of eating. If anything, this experience has taught me that I’ve actually received that much more.