Boulevard at Home

I have to confess that I am a very lucky girl. The truth of the matter is that while going out to all these fancy restaurants is pretty awesome, the best dinners are actually the ones at home. The ones that L cooks. It just so happens that L does not just enjoy eating great food. He also enjoys cooking great food. And guess who benefits from his considerable talent?

Now, you may recall a particular dining experience we had a couple years ago that L proclaimed was a "top 5" meal ever. The restaurant was Boulevard in San Francisco. On that auspicious occasion, L smartly bought the restaurant's cookbook in the hopes of re-creating its fabulousness.

In the intervening two years, L hasn't cooked much out of the Boulevard cookbook. We have alot of cookbooks, and he's really been hung up on the impossible Thomas Keller cookbooks (books so complicated that I have difficulty even reading the recipes, let along cooking from them!) But a few weeks ago, L decided to drag out the Boulevard cookbook. In truth, the Boulevard cookbook is not much easier to use than the Keller cookbooks, but L is up to the challenge.

He spent the whole day preparing. The kitchen was abuzz with activity. I worked out, got hair cut and colored, took a nap, picked A from pre-school, fed A, bathed and put him to bed. All the while, L was busy chopping, cutting, basting, heating, saute-ing and other chef-related things.

Finally, at 9:00 pm afte nearly 12 hours of prep, I set the table on our rather fabulous back porch and we sat down to eat.

It was worth every second of work he put into it. The meal was a triumph! We had a filet set on a roasted tomato, beef au jus with a corn-jalapeno relish and a fried blue cheese fritter on top. On the side, we had cubed heirloom tomatoes with goat cheese. We washed it all down with a spectacular bottle of pinot.

Like I said earlier, L knows how to cook and have alot of good meals at home. But there was something special about this meal. It seemed more perfect than usual. L had clearly put his heart into it. Sitting on the back porch with soft lights and soft music, surrounded by trees didn't hurt either. L made the night a special one, a memorable one, even though it was just an ordinary Friday night. L told me once that he learned to cook to help him get girls. Well, that plan certainly worked with this particular girl. But, in the end, I undoubtedly am the lucky one.