I accompanied Lilli on the this time excruciating
journey to the airport. The subway part was easy and
quick, but waiting at Bus Bay 3 at Jackson Heights
for half an hour or more with three of the appropriate
buses leaving empty and the crowd getting more and more
uneasy, that wasn't fun. Neither was standing and
swaying all the way to the airport.

The Centurion Lounge, though undersized, was a welcome
place to breathe. The food was eccentric - some kind of
ginger-lemon white chicken substance (nasty) sided with
jalapeno mushy peas (surprisingly good) and corn in
cilantro-lime cream sauce (also surprisingly good). Vanilla
panna cotta with mixed berries for afters.

I got Lilli a couple glasses of The Federalist, a decent
Cabernet from Lodi and had myself a couple glasses of
Remy VS. Owing to the frowardness of the MTA, she had
barely an hour to relax before her flight. I stayed
on for a while as there was nothing to do until dinner.
Decaf espresso tasted pretty good until I tumbled to the
fact that it wasn't so decaf after all. More panna cotta,
more Remy, then back out to the bus stop, where I found
another large and angrifying crowd, so I took the local
bus to the 7 train with a transfer to the EF and thence
to North Square, where I arrived shortly after 6 to find
a knot of friends milling around.

Reds & Rieslings

We had 3 tables of I think 8 in our usual secret room in
the Washington Square. Two expert bartenders and an
assortment of runners bringing stuff from the kitchen
next dooor.

The menu -

APPETIZERS
Three cheese pappardelle - ricotta, parmesan, goat cheese;
fennel cream sauce, tomatoes, roasted chanterelles, fresh herbes

Lobster & crab cakes - seaweed & vegetable salad, Thai curry
coconut sauce

I've had these before at one of the half-dozen such dinners
I've attended here. They were as you might expect skimpy on
the seafood and generous on the starch. Also quite salty.
The sauce was a killer for just about every kind of wine
except maybe a German-style Gewurztraminer, so why bother.

Crispy herb calamari - grilled tomato sauce

I've tasted these off someone else's plate in years past.
They were also salty red-winekillers.

Tuna tartare - ginger cured vegetables, avocado,
lemon/lime vinaigrette

Pretty good in a standard way but seasoned and soyed so as almost
to be like poke. The only starter that might go with red wine,
but the vegetables and vinaigrette didn't help. There were a
couple little crunchy noodly things to cleanse the palate.

ENTREES
Roasted free range chicken breast - roasted sunchokes, green
onion mashed potatoes, lemon thyme au jus

Herb crusted rack of lamb - steamed asparagus, potato & leek
galette, rosemary au jus

I think I get this every year, rare. Sometimes it comes up
to medium but usually within the rare range. The lamb is
always tender and tasty; this year better trimmed so less
fatty so to me less enjoyable. The asparagus was nicely done
as well but a bit salty. The potato cake seemed to have a
lot of dairy, probably goat cheese, so I ate the crunchy top
and left the rest. Luckily, there wasn't too much rosemary in
the jus, and there wasn't too much jus, and guys, the noun is
jus, not "au jus."

Filet mignon au poivre - grilled vidalia onion, steak cut
fries, spicy mustard, bourbon au jus

I tried Lilli's once. It was quite good meat, relatively
tasty, but the spicing was excessive.

Honey & soy glazed salmon - coconut jasmine rice, bok choy,
shitake relish

Vegetable tagine - eggplant, chickpeas, peppers, tomatoes,
olives, dried apricots, cashews, herb jasmin rice

DESSERTS
Blueberry frangipane - creme Anglaise, vanilla gelato,
candied almonds, blueberry Port sauce

Chocolate mousse cake - bitter chocolate ice cream, chocolate
& caramel sauces, chopped Heath bar

I generally get this. It's always good if a bit too sweet.
A red wine, preferably sweetish, even Port or a Port-style,
would go okay; not your standard sweet white unless it be
something we can't afford. Best I think at this juncture
would be brandy.

Key lime pie - creme Chantilly, raspberry Chambord coulis

I tried this once. Good. Not so good for wine.

Citrus creme brulee - lemon poppy seed shortbread,
fresh raspberries

I tried this more than once. Good. Okay for a classic dessert
wine, Sauternes, Tokay, Beerenauslese.
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