best birthday dinner ever?

For years I've told E about my best birthday ever, which included an amazing meal at a family owned place in some German town. I didn't think you could top that, and I am reluctant to say this past birthday dinner topped it all together, but definitely tied for best ever.

We went to 11 Madison Park, which seems to be used mostly for special occasions, with good reason since it's expensive. The luxury of the place did not get lost by snootiness, which has been my experience in fancy-shmancy places in the past. The level of attentiveness was awesome, and at no point did we feel uncomfortable.

We went with a 3 course meal, two savory and one sweet. But there were lots of little treats mixed in, so that it really was a 5 course meal.

It could have been an ordinary meal and I'd have been jazzed after seeing the menu:

















I mean, wow, I got a personalized menu!

The first thing they brought out:

















The pink squares are radish marshmallows. Which goes to show anything tastes good as a marshmallow.

We shared a roast chicken for our entree, and frankly it has ruined chicken dishes for me. I have never had such flavorful, moist, tender chicken! After serving us the freshly carved breast, they took away the rest and made a fricassee. I don't know what a fricassee is, but I will now never attempt making one no way could I beat what they made.

For desert I had a dollop of ice cream with chocolaty brownie pieces.























It's the little things that made the experience magical. For that three hour period, I felt special, like the proverbial queen.

Then the night was over and we picked Ranger up from his Aunt & Uncle's and gave him a good feeding and we all went to sleep for at least four hours.

The end.