La Poste with Tom

Thursday 12 September

Tom is leaving for his new apartment tomorrow, so tonight he took us out to our neighborhood boîte, La Poste, for a slap-up dinner with all the trimmings.

We started with a summery amuse-gueule of pickled watermelon and cucumber dice on baguette crisps.  We chose a Gunsight Rock Cabernet Sauvignon, which was unusual and good, though La Poste's nasty triple-plus markup unfortunately keeps us from going there on departmental dinners any more (you have to keep the total under $56 per person, with wine or not; and we hate telling speakers they can't have dessert if they have a second glass of wine).

Our appetizers were a couple of delicious seared scallops with tiny rye croutons, kale and a 45-minute egg (must be that sous-vide stuff); and an iceberg lettuce wedge topped with sweet apple, salty bacon, and a douse of blue cheese dressing.  Fun and retro, but it's hard to get the good stuff interspersed with the layers of lettuce.

One main was Holt's favorite, a meltingly tender shortrib, its slight blandness set off by veal sweetbreads, mashed potatoes, and trumpet mushrooms.  The prize was a special: a huge 12-oz sliced strip steak on puréed parsnips and peaches, with a hash of potato, kale and crab, and peach hollandaise.  Lots of flavors, all very lively, and intriguing peach overtones.

Thanks, Tom, for being an easy house guest, for entertaining Dora at all hours, and for a wonderful dinner!