Birthday Dinner

Last night was my birthday dinner (a bit delayed because Reasons), at The Tasting Counter in Somerville, one of my current three favorite restaurants. The other two are Campagna in Waltham (which I've gotten leery about due to the tendency for snow when I try to go for my birthday) and O Ya downtown (which is Amazing Yum but Insanely Expensive); Tasting Counter is reasonably priced for its fabulousness, convenient, and consistently excellent.

It's Prix Fixe to the extreme. It has a set menu (which is constantly changing), and drink pairings included. No reservations; instead, you buy a ticket in advance, which includes everything -- food, drinks, tax and tip. They're quite explicit that they don't want to see an open wallet in the restaurant.

The "set" menu, however, has a lot of flexibility. There are four standard drink pairings -- wine, beer, sake or non-alcoholic -- and even within that they are happy to make adjustments. (For example, they don't bat an eyelash at Kate's inability to drink red wine, and we often notice someone doing vegetarian alternatives to the dishes.)

To give you an idea of how it works, here's a link to our menus for the night (click through for full resolution; sorry for the out-of-focus bits): Yes, you get your own individualized menu, based on your stated preferences for the evening. Kate had the wine pairings (customized to be all white); I tried the beer pairing instead of my usual sake. One of these days, we're going to ask whether we can pay extra and also split the non-alcoholic pairings, which look delicious.

It's all marvelous. Particular favorites this time included the little tiny Gremolata Dumplings; the French Turbot (and especially the sushi-rice Risotto in Squid Ink with Squidly Bits accompanying it); and the simple but perfect Beef Sirloin Cap.

And of course, there's the Schisandra, which is the only part of the menu that never changes: a beautiful, fruity tea made from a rare berry, which is accompanied by The Cookie. The Cookie is the platonic ideal of the almond cookie -- fresh, soft, warm, and so good that I spent eight bites eating it even though I could do so in one. (The restaurant's FAQ is "Can I buy these cookies to take home?", to which the answer is no, to keep you coming back.)

The restaurant has two seatings per evening, and seats 18 people at a time. Do not be late: the meal runs a full two hours of near-constant service, so if you show up late you are likely to simply miss what came before. (This happened to the folks to my left, who sadly missed the wonderful Kampachi.)

Highly recommended for a special occasion or a fancy date...