Thursday, June 5, 2014

Stunning Dinner at 42 grams!!!!

I interrupt the Burgundy journey because I want to get this post published on the amazing meal we had at 42 grams! here in Chicago...

it started with a warm welcome by Alexa (of Jake and Alexa the owners) at the front door.  We also met Emily the other hostess and got the first sight of the kitchen and the counter we would share with six others for the evening-

Following in the Next model - this is a ticketed meal and WOW what a show--- here is the menu and then I will go through the dishes and some photos of the staff working on our fabulous meal prep and serving...by the way - it is BYO so you can bring some special wines - in our case we brought a 2003 Chablis and a 1996 Morey St Denis- Les Ruchots from Arlaud... both were excellent pairings-


like next- they have the centerpiece as part of the meal- here the chips we had for the course they described as breaking bread- are located in the arrangement - but more on that later-






Alexa describes a course- some she gives tips on the method to best savor the flavors -




our starter cocktail!



the cucumber salad-





the coconut course-


the seafood and fish course-



egg (seed and grains)




OMG pork belly tacos!


sweetbreads - YUM!


the main to end all main courses- a literally melt in your mouth A5 wagyu beef that shared the plate with powdered bone marrow for an all beef essence experience! This course might be my all time favorite course at any place any time!



an excellent root beer based dessert-



the cheese course- like a giant cheeto!


coffee (not liquid) for our final dessert-


and a shot of the luxe ladies room to end the post- LOL


would love to go into a lot more detail but we are leaving town right this minute so this will have to do-
more on the Burgundy trip coming up next-

the original hospice

After lunch we reach our overnight destination Chagny and we take our little bus into Beaune... a charming town - which is renown as the wine capital of Burgundy.  Here we visit the Hospices de Beaune - perhaps the oldest extant civic structure in Europe - dating from the 14th century and in continuous operation through 1971! Here is my favorite of the photos I took that afternoon- you may recognize it as it is currently my blog cover photo...





the Hospices now owns a number of fabulously expensive vineyards in Burgundy (made as donations over the centuries) and each year chooses a winemaker to make the wines under the label Hospices de Beaune. These wines are auctioned at an annual event to raise funds for the continuing existence of the Hospices.



we have  a lovely afternoon in Beaune- first some photos from the Hospices de Beaune-






I am sure the poor who came here for there last days already thought they had died and gone to heaven- they lived out their lives in the chapel on individual beds with clean linens - attended to by the "sisters" - this is more luxury than any of them saw in their daily lives-





















the on site pharmacy-






exit through the gift shop- LOL




then it was off for free time into the village-







the renown wines of Burgundy!




other goodies!






as we leave town we spy the Maison Joseph Drouhin where we had a fabulous visit 15 years ago - and toured the cellars which snake all underneath the entire town of Beaune!



We head back to our boat docked in Chagny to get ready for dinner out---- a three star Michelin restaurant called Lameloise- stay tuned!

oh- two last photos for the afternoon- one- our group photo (not stellar) and second one I took with my phone and used one of those pre set filters on- made it look old timey! LOL



off to the fancy dinner---