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We had a spectacular dinner last night with D. and S. at the Starlu chef's table. The chef's "table" is actually a bar at one end of the cooking area. From our seats we directly overlooked the salad/dessert station, and had a pretty good view of the grill also. The chef who cooked for us was very nice, just the right mixture of friendly chatting about the workings of the kitchen, and leaving us alone when we were talking among ourselves. Everything he made for us was plated up right in front of us, so he could tell us about the dish while he was putting it together. He also suggested wines, which I did not drink, but the others seemed to enjoy.

There were 5 courses:

1. Black bean/pasilla chili soup with a whipped cream/sweet potato garnish. Not spicy really, just a nice zing. Simple and delicious.
2. Caramelized onion and cheese turnovers, served with green beans and apples cooked in apple cider reduction. YUM. The sweetness was a nice followup to the soup.
3. Polenta rounds with sungold tomatoes and creamed corn sauce. The polenta had cheese and okra inside, which gave it a nice flavor.
4. Hangar steak rubbed with ancho chili and espresso powders, served with asparagus, shiitake mushrooms and spaetzle. My beef was a bit tough -- a bit difficult to cut with the dinner knife provided -- but perfectly cooked and not so tough as to be hard to eat. The spaetzle had a strong nutmeg flavor.
5. For dessert he gave us four to share: strawberry cobbler topped with vanilla ice cream, hazelnut creme brulee, lemon baked alaska, and a chocolate plate with a chocolate macaroon, a couple of truffles and an enormous dollop of whipped ganache.

Speaking of enormous, my only real criticism of the meal was the portion size. The soup was just right, but if I had known in advance how much food was coming, I would have eaten about half of the polenta and also not finished the turnover. I was so full by the meat course that I only had a little bit of the spaetzle, and congratulated myself for getting through the whole meal without overeating too much. And then he brought out four full-sized desserts!

I had a couple of bites of each dessert, and wished I could have eaten more (especially the lemon baked alaska, that was excellent), but somehow I managed to stop just short of making myself sick. I'm a "clean my plate" kind of person, I hate to choose between wasting wonderful food and eating until I'm ill. And so I would have been happier if the portions had been a bit smaller.

Otherwise it was a terrific meal in every way. I'm really glad we did it.