One Meal

Last night, I had an incredible meal at Travertine, a dark, sleek place on Kenmare Street. The two of us were work-weary and ready to chow-down. First came the house arrancini pomodoro which were a little too fried. We washed them away with a very nice, almost buttery, 2007 Blue Eyed Boy shiraz. The conversation about men started with the appetizers. Pig's head terrine with pickled vegetables, tangy frisee, peppery toast points, and watermelon mustardo and an incredibly tender fish over a zesty, spicey slaw. We moved on to talk about Taipei, Singapore and other far away lands. The next plate was fresh pasta, brussel sprouts, shitakes and a light cream sauce. We sopped up the last bites of savory warmth while reminiscing about hot springs on a mountain top in winter. For our main plates we discussed the future, changing cities, changing jobs, change as possibility and inevitability.

My friend's dish was an incredible duck breast from Long Island that was so tender and flavorful we both thought we'd died and gone to heaven. My lamb was nice too but her duck - buonissimo! Finally, we had a little dessert. She had a fantastic poached pear, flourless cake-type with the most sensual goat's milk gelato flavored with vanilla and ginger (?), served with picholine that were more like rice crispie treats. Our waitress with a pungent smell of her own told us it could be found in Philadelphia. We looked at each other as though the food fairy had given us a mission. My yogurt pannecotta, caramel and fig dessert was quite good but her gelato was almost life-changing.