Boycotting The Menu

Tonight was a night for celebration.  And what better place to celebrate than at Blue Fin on Times Square, right in the heart of Manhattan.  We’d flown in from all over the place for this meal.  From Chicago, Texas, Seattle, Norway, Florida, North Carolina & Boston plus a couple of New York locals.  OK so we didn’t fly in just for this meal.  We were also spending 2 days trapped in a small meeting room {with no windows} talking to each other.  Surely that in itself was deserving of a celebratory meal.   But no.  We were celebrating because we had all survived another {& a particularly trying one at that} fiscal year & not only had we survived, but we had done it in mighty fine style…completely blowing our number right out of the water.

The lovely event-planner-extraordinaire, Emily, at Blue Fin HQ (aka B.R. Guest Restaurants) had crossed every “t” & dotted every “i” in planning our night for us.  She even crossed & dotted a few I didn’t even know were there.  When she called me the week before to make sure everything was ticked & tied I half expected her to ask what our inside leg measurements were.  She didn’t.  But she did ask me for our menu choices.  Yep.  I got to choose the menu.  And let me tell you, I take such tasks {very} seriously.  This is food we’re talking about after all.

Emily made me feel very confident that our dinner was going to be quite the event.  It was.

We walked over to Blue Fin.  The idea had been that a 15 minute stroll to dinner would be a perfectly refreshing pre-dinner stretch after 10 hours trapped in that small window-less meeting room.  It was a great idea.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature intervened with an unseasonal heatwave that lasted the entire week.  We still walked to dinner, but it wasn’t the cool refreshing breeze that we had imagined.  Still, we were in New York…in Manhattan…in Times Square…with what seemed like 100,000 other hot & sweaty but happy people.  Who cares if you arrive a little damp around the edges?

Emily had given us the Red Room for our little soiree.  It was hidden away upstairs in the back & was like entering a little cavern.  The candles gave off just enough light to make out who was who in our 15 person gathering.

We popped a few bottles of bubbly, tipped back a few cocktails (or in  my case a glass of grapefruit juice) & then got stuck into the assorted Raw Bar crustaceans that arrived at our table on beds of crushed ice atop huge silver platters.

We clearly have some expert claw-crackers in our group.  Once we’d taken care of the shellfish, it was time for the appetizers.

Crab Cake / Sweet & Sour Cucumber Salad / Toasted Peanuts / Cilantro Aioli

Maine Lobster Bisque / Shrimp / Vol Au Vent

Warm Baked Goat Cheese / Ruby Red Beets / Baby Arugula / Balsamic Vinaigrette

  The servers did a great job of spacing the courses & taking care of our every need.  They weren’t the friendliest servers in the world, but then this was New York, not Seattle where it seems that just about everyone has time for a bright smile & a few fun words.

Entrees were next to arrive.  Unfortunately for the two people either side of me, I insisted on photographing their food before they got to tuck in.  I have a feeling I’ll be resigned to the end of the table next time;  always assuming that is, that I am invited again.

Sushi selection

Our host, the boss, decided to ignore the menu altogether & just ordered a plate of his favorite sushi items.  The server didn’t seem to mind, although he was likely breathing a sigh of relief that no one else boycotted the menu.

Crispy Skin Salmon / Warm New Potato Salad / Ginger Carrot / Spring Pea Greens

East Coast Halibut / Lemon Herb Gnocchi / Petite Portobello Mushrooms / Jumbo Lump Crab

A lot of laughter & a few more drinks later it was time for dessert.  Given that I am usually disappointed with every dessert placed before me, particularly so for anything made with chocolate, dessert has become a bit of an anti-climax for me & I usually decide simply not to go there.  But since ice cream making is one of my sideline passions I am always interested in tasting other people’s ice cream creations.  The Crème Fraiche Ice Cream was good, although it didn’t knock my socks off {bear in mind I am *super* critical about ice cream}.  I’ve made better, even if I do say so myself  🙂   The Blueberry Tart was {very} blueberry-y & the presentation was rather splendid.

Blueberry Crumb Tart / Crème Fraiche Ice Cream / Candied Meyer Lemon

Blue Fin Ice Creams & Sorbets

Blueberry Crumb Tart / Crème Fraiche Ice Cream / Candied Meyer Lemon

It was a great meal.  Everyone there said how much they had enjoyed it & what a great place Blue Fin was for a gathering such as ours.  The food was great (& it wasn’t so huge that we all felt like bloated whales afterwards), the atmosphere was fun, the boss was on especially sparkling form & the service was smooth & efficient.  I would definitely book another event there.  In fact, I already have 🙂

When we left Blue Fin at around 10:30 pm the lights in Times Square were so bright it almost felt like it was still daylight & it was heaving with people.  All-in-all an amazing experience that I thoroughly recommend if you haven’t had the chance yet.