La Belle Vie

As you all have probably heard so many times you're quite nauseated by now, this was a very exciting year: I turned 25 (five squared) and my mom turned 49 (seven squared). I always have trouble thinking of what to get my mom for a gift, but this year I had the perfect solution: a fancy dinner. La Belle Vie was recommended to me by one of the attorneys I work for, a self-proclaimed foodie. He proclaimed La Belle Vie the best restaurant in the Cities, which is all it took to pique my interest. What better way to commemorate such a special year?

As we pulled up on Friday and handed my mom's car off to the valet, I began to suspect we would not be disappointed. We were led through a big hallway, past the bar/lounge area into a brightly lit room with maybe fifteen tables. At first, we were the only ones there. The silence and emptiness of the room, combined with the several fork and spoon layout on our table (incidentally, this fancy silverware was replaced after every course) caused us to sit up very straight, talk quietly and giggle a lot, at least until the room began to fill with other diners. We decided on the chef's taster's menu: an eight-course dinner filled with things I had no hope of deciphering (except for the promising mention of beignet).

Among the notable bits of the meal were the irregular and truly lumpy lumps of sugar for our coffee; the delightful rye bread with (golden!) raisins accompanied by an attractive and ample circular pat of butter; the glass of Riesling, adding a bit of sophistication and ; the crispy fish and magical beans (who knew a mere bean could be so tasty?) in the soup; the bright orange trout roe (eggs) making the fish course a delight to not only my taste buds, but to my rods and cones; the tasty cow thymus invitingly called sweet breads; the tiny, delicate wafer with holes so large you could poke a pen point through, which I miraculously still managed to fit all my fancy gouda and jam on; the tablespoon or so of grapefruit and fancy yogurt which came with the daintiest of spoons; and last, but most definitely not least, the chocolate syrup-filled chocolate beignet and chocolate custard/crème brulee.

I can't wait to go there again!