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Home > Blogs > Taste: Dayton food and restaurants > Archives > 2009 > January > 01 > Entry
Favorite restaurant meals of 2008
Here’s a copy of a story that will run in tomorrow’s (1-2-09) Dayton Daily News Go section — and actually, one meal had to be omitted for space reasons and will be included in a separate entry here in Taste within the next day or two.
What were your favorite restaurant meals or dishes of 2008? Anyway, here’s the text of the story:
Before 2009 settles in, let’s take a look back — fondly — at some of the best, most memorable meals of 2008. Don’t let anyone proclaim that we can’t find decent grub in this part of Ohio. These meals were extraordinary, and thinking back to them is making me hungry.
January 2008: l’Auberge, 4120 Far Hills Ave., Kettering (937) 299-5536
l’Auberge owner Josef Reif tried something new during last winter’s Restaurant Week: In addition to serving the traditional three-course meal on the Bistro side of his restaurant for the proscribed price of $20.08, he offered a special on the more formal Dining Room side: his usual $65 “tasting menu” for a reduced price of $32.08.
It turned out to be the bargain of the week. The meal opened with a dollop of tuna tartare on a single slice of baguette, followed by a Lobster Ravioli topped by a chunk of lobster claw meat and served in a creamy lobster sauce alongside sauteed Royal Trumpet mushrooms. A salad course was accented with sliced golden beets that would convert the most ardent beet-hater.
Entree choices included Dover Sole Meuniere, cooked whole and filleted tableside, and tournedos of Angus beef tenderloin carved tableside and drizzled with Bordelaise sauce — all cooked and seasoned perfectly. Diners could then choose from desserts or a selection from the cheese cart. From start to finish, this was a memorable, well-executed meal.
May 2008: Meadowlark, 2094 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Centerville, (937) 434-4750
Many chefs talk the talk of using ingredients in-season and at their peak of flavor, but no one walks the walk quite like Elizabeth Wiley, Meadowlark’s chef and owner.
In early May, the restaurant offered a special of Bluefish in a Tangerine sauce.
A piece of bluefish was grilled, then topped with a tangerine cream and bits of the zest, and a small spoonful of intensely flavored tapenade, the black-olive spread.
The olives and tangerine married beautifully, elevating the humble and simply prepared bluefish to new heights. In her menu description of the dish, Wiley noted that California tangerines are only truly in-season for a few weeks, but this dish captured the fruit at its freshest. Accompanied by lightly smashed fingerling potatoes and sauteed spinach — and paired with a glass of South African chenin blanc — the dish was sublime.
May 2008: Jay’s Restaurant, 225 E. Sixth St. in Dayton’s Historic Oregon District, (937) 222-2892
The days of Jay’s offering little beyond a well-prepared fillet of fresh fish are fading, as Chef Justin White’s creations are showing up more often on the menu and in monthly specials.
The Sauteed Walleye topped with Garlic Aioli and served with Roasted Mushroom Ravioli, Asiago Creamed Spinach and Roasted Grape Tomatoes was one of those monthly (well, May and June) specials, and at $19.95, it was a fine value as well.
Lightly battered walleye fillet paired perfectly with the rich and decadent mushroom-stuffed ravioli served underneath, and the robust aioli that topped the dish added a creamy, garlicky note. The components came together to create a complex and satisfying dish, and at a very reasonable price.
August 2008: Rue Dumaine, 1061 Miamisburg-Centerville Road, Washington Twp., (937) 610-1061
I’m cheating a bit on this one, because this dinner was prepared for a wine-tasting buddy of mine and his wife who had bid on and won a private dinner at Rue Dumaine and who invited my wife, myself and some mutual friends to the dinner, which was served on a Sunday when the restaurant was closed. Still, the entree — Lamb Chops Crepinette Provencal with Tomato, Leek and Potato Gratin served with a Nicoise Olive-Flecked Demi-Glace Reduction — was similar to a nightly special I had ordered and devoured with great joy back in February.
The menu prepared by chef-owner Anne Kearney and her right-hand man in the kitchen, Brian Griffey, also included a delicate, flavorful Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with Local Tomato Petals, Corn and Fennel Relish served with Saffron Aioli. A second course of Pan-Seared Foie Gras over Golden Pain Perdu served with Sauternes-Poached Ohio Peach and Candied Pistachios, which we consumed alongside one of the world’s finest dessert wines, was simply the best wine-and-food pairings of my life.
So far.
Update: The lamb dish mentioned above made another appearance just last night, on New Year’s Eve, on Rue Dumaine’s New Year’s Eve menu.
Again, in the coming days, we’ll write here on Taste about a fifth “meal of the year” and a couple of other experiences that deserve a tip o’ the cap before we delve too deeply into 2009.
Did you have a favorite restaurant experience or specific dish that wowed you in ‘08?
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