We both opted for the $20 3-course prix fixe lunch. First course was a choice of bibb salad with orange segments, walnuts and blue cheese vinaigrette or the soup of the day which was seafood chowder. Carol ordered the salad and I had the chowder. While we were waiting they brought around a fresh bread basket with a choice of three kinds of house-made bread or rolls. One *tiny* quibble, no points off, but - they had these charming little silver butter servers in which a disk of butter sat on a perforated plate over a well that was, I think, intended to hold warm water to soften the butter, but there was no water in it and the butter was quite firm, but hey - that probably means I just ate less butter than I would have normally!
The flatware and tableware are very nice - I was especially impressed with my soup bowl, which was plate-sized in total, but with a small bowl-like depression in the middle, if you can picture what I'm talking about - the "brim" of the bowl was wider than the bowl part itself. Chowder was great, and we both were offered and accepted fresh ground pepper. Our waiter looked familiar to me and I told Carol I thought he used to be a server (or possibly the maitre d') at Asiatique, which he confirmed when I asked him. Ethan can help me out with his name, I hope...
Second course was a choice of something I can't remember, or meatloaf and mashed potatoes, or a shrimp pasta. We both ordered the meatloaf, which also came with perfectly cooked haricot verts. The mashed potatoes were fine, the meatloaf tasted wonderful, but I was a bit puzzled by the tomato sauce that came ladled over the meatloaf - it had some sort of citrus zest in it, I believe - lemon or orange - that was somewhat overpowering. Different; not your mom's meatloaf, but then you wouldn't expect mom's meatloaf in a swanky joint like Corbett's! I also spied a piece of bacon in there somewhere, I think the meatloaf must have been larded with bacon; yum!
For dessert, Carol ordered the Meyer Lemon Roulade with (I think - Carol?) Raspberry filling, with Meyer Lemon Marmalade, (I got a bite of it and I'd love to have a whole jar of that marmalade). The other option was butternut squash pot de creme, which was really REALLY tasty - sort of the same flavor profile/texture as pumpkin pie filling, and it came with macerated berries and a quenelle of chocolate mousse - gorgeous presentation, perfectly executed. Sometimes when you get macerated berries, they've been macerated practically to death or they have barely been macerated at all - these were perfect, still firm but nice and sweet. I saw the ladies at the next table whispering and pointing so I had to take my dessert over for them to see before I dug into it.
After lunch, my buddy Nick Sullivan, one of the chefs there (he is in charge of desserts but he does work on the line and in the savory stuff as well) took us on a tour of the kitchen - boy, they have such great equipment and facilities, I was green with envy. Kevin Rice, who makes all the breads in-house, was making pasta sheets in front of a sunny window and I could see the silhouettes of Italian parsley leaves inside as he held it in front of the light in their clean, calm, quiet, organized kitchen - that was a real zen moment for me *happy sigh*.
Finally, Nick took us downstairs for a tour of the more private dining areas - brick floors and the original stone walls and room dividers, the *spare* bar for parties or busy services, the wine cellar to die for, the shiny stainless steel dumb waiter. I was almost speechless, and you guys know how rare that is for me.
All this for $20 a person, people! Get yourselves out to Corbett's for lunch, there's no way you can beat that price. Or better yet, make dinner reservations and invite me to go along. I can't wait to eat dinner there!
