Was fortunate enough to eat at the Chefs Kitchen Table last night, what an experience. My wife and I live in Winchester, so it is a trek to make it into the "city" for a special meal, and this one passed all expectations. The Kitchen Table seats up to eight, and is a beautiful brown and cream onyx table in a little alcove directly in view of the kitchen action. The cost is 135.00 per person. We were greeted by Chef Krinn at seating and found a special menu, with our names printed at the top as we sat, a nice touch. If you haven't heard about the bread by now, you are missing out, the two of us went through 3 baskets, it was spectacular, and raises the bar of the restaurant greatly. The Menu: Amuse Bouche - Duck Liver Rilletes Roasted Red and Yellow Beets with Tempura Vegetables Quail Egg Topped With Pacific Sea Urchin and Irian Osetra Caviar Olive Oil Poached Salmon With Crayfish and Morel Mushrooms Herb Roasted Maine Lobster With Hudson Valley Foie Gras and Orange Essence Blue Fin Tuna Duo - Tenderloin and Toro with Soy, Sake and Tomato Confit Colorado Bison and Australian Kangaroo Seared Mishima Beef Tenderloin Coconut Tapioca Soup Chocolate Hazelnut Cognac Tart With Creme Fraiche Ice Cream Petits Fours and Cotton Candy The Experience: After meeting Chef Krinn at seating we figured, Saturday night very busy, we wouldn't really be seeing more of him, per se. Boy was I wrong. Inside the madness of the restaurant, Chef Krinn prepared every one of our dishes separate from everything else. Including coming to talk to us at nearly every turn, bringing over items before they were prepared, and then delivering them to the table with so much pride after preparation. Explaining all along were he got the ideas for the dishes, how he prepared them, etc. The Food: As you might noticed several of the items on our menu were not on the regular menu. In fact some of them he explained were thought up that morning. The tempura batter on the vegetables, perfection. As well as his explanation of trying out over 100 different recipes to get the perfect batter. My wife wasn't sport for the Quail Egg dish, no problem, he whipped up a wonderful Scallop Risotto for her and gave me a double portion of the Quail Egg appetizer. The food was a great study in the simplicity of great ingredients prepared perfectly. One of Chef Krinn's mantras was to make sure his technique didnt get in the way of the food, and to this he succeeded spectacularly. The Salmon, Lobster, and Tuna were all greeted with a "warning" of not being afraid of the texture, as they were prepared in such a way that they literally melted in your mouth. The Kangaroo, cooked very rare, was wonderful. And then there was the Mishima Beef, oh man. Chef Krinn brought out the tenderloin for our "inspection" pointing out the marbling and then telling us about the levels of beef, this one going beyond the level of Kobe in marbling. He is the only Chef in the country using the Mishima tenderloin, and at $18.00 an ounce, I could see why. Now let me say I have a steak lover, I have had my fair share of Lobels Prime, Kobe at Maestro and The Old Homestead, etc. I figure, ok this sounds all well and good but how much better this steak be, right. Not only was this the best steak I every had, this was quite possibly the best thing I have ever eaten. Simply seared on one side with salt and pepper and served with a tiny side of pureed potatoes, this was Chef Krinn at this best. But wait, and I will probably get him in trouble for the future dinners, but this had to be noted. As we were finishing the steak and ohhing and ahhing, he comes over and asks if I would like anymore, I look at my wife, is he kidding?? I said sure if you are really offering, and he states that "once you are in my kitchen you are part of the family and if you want more, you can have more" So off he goes in the controlled chaos of his kitchen at 9:30 on a Saturday night to delicately prepare me another piece of the best meat in the world. After the desserts, pettis fours, cotton candy, we were given two loaves of the spectacular bread to take home and were walked out of the kitchen by Chef Krinn, given a tour of the restaurant and outside landscaping, and he even gave our valet ticket to the valet. The food alone for this meal would have put it at the top of our list of dinning experiences, the interaction and complete immersion of having Chef Krinn personally prepare and contribute his insight and wisdom on each dish made it our finest meal ever. And let me say that all this was done on a busy Saturday night for 2 thirtysomethings from Winchester, whose bill was probably less then half of the dinners in the main dinning room. Kudos, to Chef Krinn for a meal that will be etched in our memories for ever.
