Pigalle - Sex on a Plate

My boyfriend Nick and I decided some time ago that we wanted to save up some of our weekly dining-out budget and, rather than waste it on mediocre food from Ana's or some such, use it to go to someplace really fancy—where we could dress up and eat a meal that was more expensive than our combined weekly food budget. Since neither of us had ever really been to a French restaurant, we ended up going to Pigalle on Charles Street (next to the Playhouse in Boston). OH MY GOD. This was sex on a plate. It was food porn. I can't describe it, other than to say, "UNGH!" and squeeze my thigh muscles together briefly.

For $110 each (not kidding - GULP!), we got the Petit tasting menu, which was five small courses with wine pairings. Each wine was insanely good (better than I think I've ever had—I had wines I normally hate, and they were delightful), and the food courses were heaven. I think I gave the waiter the impression that I was either on ecstacy, or liked the food a BIT too much. There was risotto with white truffle oil, and slow-poached salmon that was the best I've ever tasted EVER (normally I hate cooked salmon, but this was addictive), and beef (yes, beef - the often-vegetarian ate beef) with asian greens and blood orange-port reduction, and coconut tapioca with passion fruit sorbet and a small deep-fried dark chocolate truffle with coconut. oh my god, oh my god, OH MY GOD.

The wines (2 white, 2 red, a sparkling white that I really didn't like, and a surprisingly sweet sherry with dessert that reminded me of kettle corn) somehow managed to magically make all the food even better (if that's possible). They also got Nick and I quite a bit loaded. Even at half a glass each course, we're still talking three glasses of wine. In fact, one of the whites (a chardonnay that reminded me of tuna salad and white truffles, but oddly enough I found it REALLY REALLY GOOD) elicited the funniest Nick comment I've heard in a long time. After much deliberation, and insistence on finding notes in the wine, he said, "You know what this reminds me of? The rubber from action figures. I remember when I was six, this is kinda what He-Man tastes like." Oh my.

All told, it's been determined that experiences like last night's have to be budgeted for more often. I have no problem eating in more often if it means that dining out will be like THAT.