Dinner tonight was at the American Bounty Restaurant on the campus. This restaurant features more traditional American fine dining type dishes, with local seasonal ingredients. I got there a little early because they were having a huge banquet in the main dining room of Roth Hall. I was able to walk through and look at everything. The Garde Manger classes (hot/cold appetizers, sausages, pates, terrines, etc) and the Pastry classes had this grand buffet set up with station after station of food. There was a Latin American station, a Tex Mex station, an Asian Station, a French station, a German station. I mean, you name it, they had a station for it.
They also had an amazing array of desserts in the pastry section, with mini cakes, bombes, tartlets, chocolate candies, sugar work, and even ice cream. The entire array of the art of pastry was on display. It was outstanding, and so inspiring. I wish I knew how to do that! I want to learn it so bad!
After looking through the grand buffet, I stopped in the bookstore, and I think I will pick up a few things tomorrow after our boot camp is over.
After the bookstore, I walked to the restaurant and everyone was in the bar/lounge area for a small reception. The American Bounty restaurant's color scheme revolved around the color red, and felt very much like I was at an exclusive country club. Large leather chairs that enveloped you was my choice of a seat in the lounge. The other boot campers were standing and chit-chatting, but I had to sit down -- after all, I was on my feet all darn day.
We were led to our tables, and they started us off with salad, and steamed mussels. The salad was served on a long narrow plate "family style", which was a fun idea for presenting a salad. The mussels were in a separate bowl. We passed these around and started off on our eating for the evening.
I sat with a nice group of boot campers (everyone is nice, though), and we had good conversations, and talked a lot about food and cooking. The service was a bit slow at this restaurant, but I suppose at fine dining restaurants, the pace is much slower for you as a diner. They aren't trying to rush you. And I keep forgetting that these are all students doing the serving, and making the food. This is actually a class for them. You easily forget this, it is just like a five star restaurant to me.
For my dinner, I felt like having beef, and they had aged New York strip steak on the menu, so that's what I selected. It did not disappoint. It was done PERFECTLY. I ordered it medium, and it came out medium. I compared the doneness to the person sitting next to me who got the same thing. She ordered hers medium rare, and you could see the difference very clearly. The steak was served with a risotto cake, and spinach. I didn't think I could eat the whole steak, but I did, it was that good.
After a long wait while we talked some more, we ordered and were served our desserts. This time I chose the apple tart, and it also exceeded my expectations. It was a shortbread crust, much like a cookie, and the apples were arranged on the tart in a circle. It had a caramel bourbon sauce, and vanilla ice cream on top. Wow. It was delicious, and I was so glad that I chose it.
Around 9:00 pm I was ready to get going, so this is when I left to drive back to the hotel. I need to pack up and get ready to check out tomorrow since it is my last day. I am starting to get a little sentimental about the boot cam being over tomorrow. However, when I get that feel, I just think about the prospect of having to keep up this eating. And then I guess I am ready to re-enter my old life. However, a life in the food world is something I could do full-time, I think.
Well, that is enough for now. See you tomorrow for the conclusion.
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