I've been really spoiled the last couple months. It started with a memorable chef's table dinner for 4 at Art & Soul (tkern) I won at a silent auction. Then when BoardSmith and family were in town abut 2 weeks ago we had another fantastic dinner at the Green Pig Bistro (ChucktheButcher). And the latest was an incredible dinner at Bistro Blanc in Columbia, Maryland -- a restaurant owned and run by marc4pt0. The stars aligned to make this last one happen; I volunteered to instruct at a teen survival driving school a little west of Baltimore, and then realized I would be driving right past Marc's place. Marc said "sure, come on by", so I happily lined up a couple other dinner companions ahead of time. Of course at the very last minute we picked up three extra people who needed a place to go for dinner as well, and Marc graciously accommodated us by housing our group in the Wine Cellar/ Chef's Table room that abuts the kitchen. In fact, it is separated from the expo area by a sliding glass door, so we were even able to watch a bit of the action.
(If you looks closely in the background on the left, you can catch a glimpse of two KKF members hard at work) Marc started us off by sending out a batch of apps, including Brussels sprouts made edible by cooking them with a few pounds of bacon, foie gras, BBQ ribs and braised pork belly. It was very reminiscent of the dinner at Green Pig Bistro; these guys definitely think alike. Sadly we wolfed down the apps before thinking about snapping any pictures The food was accompanied by a really nice pinot noir from Washington State -- they have a large selection of wines, and their markups are much less that at most restaurants. We next had a couple baskets of homemade rolls, with several toppings including oil heavily infused with garlic and a spicy baba ganouch. For entrees two of us picked the 72 hour sous vide short ribs three picked swordfish and one picked gnocchi Bolognese I cannot vouch for the swordfish, but the short ribs were delicious (included very good local roasted vegetables) and the gnocchi tasted almost as good as mine For dessert most of us went with a molten chocolate cake with cabernet sauce and housemade salted caramel ice cream, and one or two went with an apple tart. The desserts were an excellent end to a first-rate dining experience. Marc's kitchen and wait staff were top-notch, which made the experience even better. And don't discount the show visible through the glass door; while Marc and the other main cooks were largely hidden from view, both of the guys working in front cut themselves and we got to watch one of them apply a duct tape repair twice :cool2: And to punctuate how well everyone enjoyed themselves, three of my dinner companions are already organizing another dinner in December at the Chef's Table. And that's saying something, as Marc's place is about an hour away. Thanks again for a fantastic meal, Marc!