The Most Amazing Birthday DInner

Yesterday was my birthday and my lovely family came to NYC to share it with me again this year. It was awesome. We did something new and totally different - we did a tasting menu. Somehow when searching for a new restaurant to try this weekend, we stumbled upon Perilla in Greenwich Village. It offered the option of a tasting menu chosen that night by the chef. We love dining out, so this seemed like a perfect new adventure to try. My mother, father, and best friend Andrea came in from Pennsylvania and my brother and Angelique joined us as well. Shortly after making a reservation for my birthday dinner, I was playing around on their website and discovered that the restaurant was open by Top Chef season 1 winner Harold, making it even more exciting! It was quite the experience, both because it was so much food and it was a couple hour endeavor. Hands down though this was the best dinner I've ever had in my life. I ate every morsel.

• First Course - A raw fish course of spanish mackerel served with cucumber garnish and a cucumber sorbet. The cucumber sorbet was particularly delicious and intriguing as it tasted sweet like a sorbet but also exactly like a cucumber.
• Second Course - A cooked fish course of bronzino with crispy skin served over potatoes.
• Third Course - Another cooked fish course of sturgeon over chick peas. This was served with a cocoa, coffee "dirt" and blood orange shavings. The chick peas were the most tender and delicious I've ever tasted.
• Fourth Course - A pasta course of gnocchi with shiitake mushrooms served in a butter truffle sauce. I almost licked the plate.
• Fifth Course - A meat course that was a duck duo. A spicy duck meatball with parmesan shavings, which he is famous for and did not disappoint. The second way was a seared duck breast and also delicious.
• Sixth Course - A palate cleanser course of vanilla custard with grape berry sorbet.
• Seventh Course - Finally the dessert course was a double chocolate soufflé served with a coffee caramel sauce, and of course a little vanilla ice cream with a candle on it!

Fabulous doesn't even begin to describe the food we had. The most amazing thing was that if you ate all the components of each course together it was even better than they were individually. Hopefully, I was able to mildly do this meal justice because it is just not possible to capture how wonderful the whole meal truly was.