Night Out In Phoenix

I'm so over my trip (it was crazy fun), but I have to blog about one of our nights out in Phoenix.

On Monday night we got treated to this amazing 5-course meal.  It was put together by Andy Papas, a pretty famous chef and cuisine historian so I've been told.

The night was full of conversation and wine parings.  Oh yes, and some devastatingly delicious food (devastating because I probably gained 10 pounds from it).

Here is a taste of our lavish menu...

This first course was Insalate de frutta di mare (fresh seafood with fennel).  It was better than I expected, although it looked scary at times.  I loved the flower accent on the plate.

The second course was my favorite.  It was ravioli all parmagiano (artichoke, prosciutto in a parmagiano cream sauce).  Very rich, very flavorful.  I was getting full at this point.

Because the pasta was so rich, we had to cleanse our pallets with some lemon ice. I swear there was some liqueur in it as well.

The entree was vittello ripieni (stuff veal loin). I have to be honest, I hate veal. I can't say this was the best entree in the world either. It had these beans around it with tomatoes which tasted kind of bland. I would have preferred a good steak (and a cow that lived longer than a month; veal is just wrong).

I loved the cheese course which was called formaggio e frutta (academia barilla pecorino gran cru, quince & singh farms honey). The chef described it as "coming down from the mountain." Apparently eating cheese helps you digest a big meal. Perhaps we should have it more often.

The dessert was amazing. It was mascarpone crepes macerated(crepes & ice cream with berries).  Need I say more?

And finally, I needed a decaf to round it out.

What a night to remember. Gosh, perhaps I should now start a foodie blog. Yep, probably do not have time for that task. I'm home now and ready to focus on little man again.

Good night.