Chefs surround the casket of Dallas chef Jean LaFont.

This morning chefs from all over the world gathered at St. Monica Church in Dallas to pay their last respects to Dallas’ most significant chef Jean LaFont. Once family and friends were seated, a parade of over 50 chefs dressed in chef whites filed down the aisle. It was a stunning moment. Forgive me for not getting all of their names in here. I hope if you were there, you will leave your name below. I recognized, with the help of Chris Ward: Chef Ewald Scholz, Chef Christian Gerber, Chef Cherif Brahmi, Chef Didier Viriot, Jean Marie Cadot, Chef Louis Vacher, Chef Joe Garza, Chef Laurent Champalle, Chef David Brawley, Chef David Sokol, Chef Chris Ward, Chef Sharon Van Meter, Chef Pete Curley. Other notable names include Phil Vacarro, Anne and François Chandou, and Patrick Esquerre. Hedda Dowd and Jim Deibel both spoke. Deibel told the crowd how he entered the “French-only” kitchen at Oz and applied for a job while all the other chefs snickered. Dowd, a longtime friend of LaFont, gave a moving speech on LaFont’s character. He left home at 13 to become a butcher and worked his way up through every station in traditional brigade system kitchens of France. “He was a “complete chef,” she said. “He was a rôtisseur, a patissier, a saucier, a poissonnier. He could do it all. He was a chef whose presence was known the second he walked into a kitchen.” To paraphrase Dowd, Jean LaFont taught so many chefs how to cook, the ripple effect of his talent will be with us for a long time. LaFont is survived by seven children: Sonia, Stephanie, Jean-Luc, Mireille, Jean-Pierre, Magali, and Marise; four grandchildren, two sisters, and two former wives. And a huge community of food loving friends. The family will be checking this site. Please feel free to leave them a note. (Or correct my spelling!) Short video after jump.

Services for Chef LaFont will take place on January 31 at 10:00AM at St. Monica Catholic Church at the corner of Midway and Walnut Hill.

UPDATE: SORRY FOR THE CONFUSION BUT THINGS HAVE CHANGED AGAIN: HERE IS THE RECENT UPDATE FROM THE FAMILY:

1. Service is being held at St. Monica Catholic Church, 9913 Midway Road, Dallas, TX, at 10:00, not 10:30.They are asking all chefs to wear their chef whites and hats to the service.  They will be taking a picture of all chefs with a large picture of  Chef Jean LaFont.

2. Reception is being held at Prestonwood Country Club, 5909 Preston Road, Dallas, TX, immediately following the service.

3. At this point there is not a specific area at Prestonwood Country Club, but they will direct you when you approach the front door. Chefs can change clothes if they choose.

4.. There will be a basket at the service for notes.  Later today I will receive a mailing address for those of you who care to send notes to the family.

The opening spread of D Magazine's April 2002 article "Best New Restaurants in Dallas." Jean LaFont photographed at Le Rendezvous by Kris Hundt. Many thanks to Gwen Watel for sending a picture of the article.

One of the finest and most influential chefs in Dallas, Jean LaFont, passed away late this afternoon. He was 72. According to his good friend and former student Mercury Chef Chris Ward, LaFont died from cancer which was detected around Christmas.

LaFont was a gentle, caring, immensely talented man who influenced many people during his 35 years in Dallas. There are many chefs and restaurateurs in Dallas who owe their careers to LaFont.

In the early 70s, Jean LaFont was working at the Rainbow Room in New York when he was lured to Dallas by Phil Vacarro to oversee his growing empire of restaurants that included Arthur’s, Old Warsaw, Les Saisons, and Mario’s. LaFont eventually moved to the Pyramid Room at the Fairmont Hotel and never-to-be-forgotten Oz in 1974. Over the years, LaFont continued to cook, consult, or both with many restaurants.

The only thing he failed to do successfully was retire. “When I see a restaurant I just always want to be in the kitchen,” LaFont said in a phone interview last year. “It’s very hard to let it go from your system.”

He tried to retire several times beginning in 2000 but he kept popping up in Dallas kitchens. In 2002, he took over at Le Rendezvous in Preston Royal. In October 2004, then Dallas Morning News Restaurant dining critic, Dotty Griffth wrote: “Venerable chef Jean LaFont has come back more often than Cher and Mickey Rooney combined. At least Mr. LaFont returns to what he knows and does best: fine French cuisine.”

Griffith was referring to LaFont’s, a restaurant in Addison he opened with Al Amadeus. Then came LaFont’s Steakhouse in the old Morton’s space in Addison. Between his travels, LaFont returned to Dallas and consulted on many high-profile restaurants. In 2003, Mico Rodriquez threw a party to honor names from the pantheon of Dallas dining: not only LaFont but also Riviera owner Franco Bertolasi, cellar master Tony LaBarba, chef George Patrice, chef Ewald Scholz, restaurateur Phil Vacarro, and chef Rene Weibel. D publisher Wick Allison wrote this account of the evening.

In D Magazine’s 30^th Anniversary Issue (October 2004) I summarized the significant role LaFont played during his then 30-year career in Dallas restaurants. More specifically, his ability to take classical French cooking to another level when he was the executive chef of Oz in 1974:

THE WIZARDS OF OZ: Sous chef Guy Bernal (left) and executive chef Jean LaFont put chic substance, like duck with fresh peaches, on the menu at the stylish Oz. (1974)

When Oz opened in the nosebleed country on LBJ, it changed everything. For the first time, you were where you ate. But behind the glitz and glamour of the tri-level, mirrored, neon-lit club, there was a serious kitchen, run by French chef Jean LaFont, that produced highly imaginative, mostly French-style food. We raved breathlessly about “quenelles so light they take your breath away.” Food became part of the definition of hip. And it’s been that way ever since.

DeGraff and Morton ran restaurants and nightclubs in Chicago, Las Vegas, and Dallas. They opened N9NE Steakhouse and Nove in Victory Park and Ghostbar in the W Hotel Dallas. Both N9NE and Nove closed. However, Ghostbar is still going strong. According to the Aspen Daily News, DeGraff moved to Aspen in late 2008 and hit financial problems.

What a strange coincidence: In September, Billy Reiger, one of the partners of Kenichi Dallas, also committed suicide in Aspen. Dallas Kenichi is just down the street from DeGraff’s businesses.

Steve Hartnett heads to Uzbekistan with the troops on C-17 cargo plane.

Early this morning Steve Hartnett lost his battle with prostate cancer. He was 61. Hartnett is best known as a restaurateur. He was a dynamic force behind Fox and Hound, Bailey’s Pub and Grille, Cool River Cafe, Flip’s Patio Grille, Winewood, and Mi Dia. Hartnett also owns the Bob’s Steak and Chop House in Grapevine. At one point, Hartnett owned over 200 restaurants. However, Hartnett considered designing and operating restaurants as a hobby. His “real day jobs” were futures trader and real estate developer.

I met Steve in 2002 when he was part of a group of restaurateurs I joined to travel to Uzbekistan where we prepared a steak dinner for 2,000 soldiers at an airbase outside of Karshi. The mission, headed by Harvey Gough, also included Gene Street, Rhett Stein, Tony Booth, Rob Holmes, and Robert Ozarow. The complete wacky story is here.

After a 6-hour layover at Bagram Airbase, 27 miles north of Kabul, Afghanistan, we took off for for Karshi. Fifteen minutes later, Bagram was attacked. Once we arrived at “K-2,” we lived in cargo containers and hung out with the first troops and Special Forces units sent to battle. On the evening of our dinner, Steve stood up and gave a patriotic toast to the officers in a private dining area. After he finished, he went over to the next tent and worked and visited every table to thank the soldiers for their service.

Hartnett was a consummate professional. He was generous with his restaurant employees, investors, and business staff. He was one of the nicest men I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. He was a perfectionist, a philosopher, and a true entrepreneur. Our condolences to his wife Sandy, son Taylor, and daughter Dionne. Services pending.

Ed Bamberger of Single Gourmet.

Ed Bamberger, a great lover of fine food, wine, and travel, died Sunday after a long battle with prostate cancer. According to his wife Mariann, Ed passed away peacefully in his sleep.

Ed described himself as “an easy-going people person.” He was active in the food and wine community and volunteered his time for events. Ed also organized Single Gourmet, an organization that brought single people together through special food-related events.

He also had a keen eye for grammatical errors. I got emails from him all the time notifying me of typos or broken links on SideDish.

A memorial service will take place in a few weeks. Ed, I’m not going to divulge your SideDish user name, but the brilliant observations you brought to our forum will be missed.

Feel free to leave messages to the family below. I will post details for the memorial when they are finalized.

Also, apropos the holiday, back in the early 1990s I went to hear Studs Terkel speak on the topic of labor and will never forget what an eye-opener it was to finally understand what the holiday was all about. It’s a fine thing to have gotten dressed-down by the cigar-smoking big pappa of the working class. I have to admit, I was a little bit in love with him after that. So every year I offer a toast Studs (and promise to name a child or dog after him someday). Often there’s a signature drink involved. One year we created a drink called “The Working Poor,” but that bummed everybody out. Another year it was a gin concoction called “Not In My Bathtub,” but the gin made everybody mean. So a new drink is in order.

Problem is, I’m flat out of ideas. So, I’m going to steal some from you. What dishes are you making for your Labor Day gathering? And while you’re at it, any suggestions for a Labor Day-themed drink are welcome. Hell, if I get enough good ones I might even mix up a few and let the guests decide.

Before you jump to conclusions about real vs. lab-created meat, science writer Michael Specter, who traveled to laboratories in the Netherlands and North Carolina to examine the progress scientists have made in developing in vitro meat, is quick to point out that this is real meat. It’s real muscle cells, the same ones that live inside a real cow, minus the environmental bugbears such as pesticides, UV radiation, etc. (Specter wrote about the arguments in favor of lab-made steaks in the May 23 issue of The New Yorker.)

Even though the technology and global feasibility are still in development, I’d lay money on the fact that the technology’s not going to fade away. And being that this is Texas, this is a topic worth familiarizing ourselves with so that we can have a reasonable discussion about the technology’s pros and cons.

Pros: a reduction in animal cruelty and greenhouse gas emissions

Cons: You tell me. Especially in light of rising population numbers and the domino effect of socioeconomic and environmental pitfalls associated with feeding all those people.

Agriculture stats show that the largest share of Texas’ agricultural income is derived from beef cattle. Texas ranks #1 in the country in cattle raised—a number that can exceed 14 million head. That’s about 20 percent of the nation’s beef cattle.

I encourage you to listen to the episode of Fresh Air and read Specter’s article, then return for a discussion in the comments section.

TRUE FRIEND: Ida Papert has shopped at and supported the Dallas Farmers Market since the ’50s. photography by Elizabeth Lavin

Chad Houser, chef at Parigi, is the president of Dallas Farmers Market Friends, the organization founded by Ida Papert. He asked his good friend Randy Potts to write a short piece about Mama Ida. “I didn’t really choose Ida, or intend to write a piece like this,” says Potts. “Houser asked me to write a couple paragraphs on her for the Friends but I pretty much fell in love with her in the process and wrote this as a sort of tribute, not really knowing if I’d ever do anything with it.”

So far only tentative plans for public services have been announced: They will be held at Temple Emanu-El on Monday, January 31st at 2 pm, but please confirm that time tomorrow morning  here on SideDish or in the DMN.

Update: According to Mama Ida’s good friend Marsha Singer, the correct time for the service is 12:30 PM tomorrow.

Below is a tribute written by Randy Potts.

“Mama” Ida and the Friends of the Farmers Market: The Story of Dallas’ Favorite Locavore

Not every farmers market has a local matriarch, but the Dallas Farmers Market does, and her name is Ida Papert. Walking through the market on a Saturday morning, “Mama” Ida is greeted like royalty, hugged at almost every stall, her money often refused. She carries a bag around with her that says “Ida’s Gotta Have,” and this bag is full from the beginning of her shopping to the end. Her bag begins the shopping day filled with preserves she’s made from produce she bought at the market, and as she goes around distributing her little jars at each stall she is given something in return – tomatoes and spinach from Mr. Lemley, fresh eggs from Paul the Sweet Roasted Corn Man. On this particular Saturday, “Mama” Ida has made Red Pepper jelly, and sent me home with a jar as well.

Mama Ida by Randy Potts.

You never ask a woman her age (although I get the feeling Ida wouldn’t mind), but I did the math and as far as I can tell, Ida was born in Shreveport, Louisiana sometime in the early 1930s. When she was growing up, a dozen eggs cost a dime, a pound of spinach a nickel, and the word “locavore” wasn’t invented yet – if local farmers didn’t have tomatoes on the vine, you didn’t have tomatoes in your salad.

A lot can change in twenty years, and by the time Ida was a grown woman the local grocery store had been completely transformed. During World War II Americans proudly built up an immense supply system based first on railroads and later on highways, transporting goods made in local factories to shipping yards in the Gulf and both coasts to supply what became the largest military in the world. But it wasn’t just goods like nails, guns, and submarine propellers that were needed– most importantly, our army fighting on all points of the globe needed food. By the time Ida was buying her own food at the grocery store, the transportation system built to supply the army had been adapted to supply civilians and now, if tomatoes and bananas and peaches and pears could be grown somewhere like California or Florida, they could be found on the shelf in Shreveport, too. Eating local had meant going without and depending on local seasons – it was no wonder that Americans greeted the modern grocery store with open arms.

None of this, however, was of any concern to Ida – at that time, she wasn’t hanging around the house cooking. At 19, 20, 21 years of age Ida’s main concern was boys, and not just one of them but all of them. She studied the subject so well that she eventually exhausted local supply, and since there was no internet at the time which nowadays allows single men and women to browse beyond county lines, Ida decided she would have to move. “I was born in Shreveport,” Ida told me, “and I lived there until I had dated every guy in Shreveport, and finally decided that I would come to Dallas and see what I could do here, and I found somebody right away.” Sam Papert was the lucky man’s name, and he and Ida were married for more than fifty years

When Ida married Sam, the young couple moved in with Sam’s mother, and it was Ida’s new mother-in-law who taught her what she needed to know. “She taught me to cook,” Ida said, “but the most important thing she taught me was to use food from the local market.” Since 1953 when she moved to Dallas and married Sam, Ida has been to the Dallas Farmers Market at least once a week, convinced by her mother-in-law that preparing locally-grown food for her husband and others was worth the extra effort. I didn’t ask her to do the math on that one either, but I’m pretty sure Ida has been to the Dallas Farmers Market over 3,000 times.

Life with Sam was comfortable – he worked in the newspaper industry selling advertisements and there was no need for Ida to work outside the home. In between having three children, Sammy, Peggy, and Lee, Ida began to seek out work beyond the home, hoping to help the local community – “I call myself a professional volunteer,” she said. She volunteered on local community boards and also dabbled in politics – “Papa” George Bush had been a neighbor and friend since 1964 when he ran for the Senate, and when he ran for President in 1980, Ida signed on to chair the Dallas-area campaign offices. Being a delegate at the national convention gave her experience in national politics and she became highly-sought after by Texas politicians. Quickly tiring, however, of partisan politics, she gratefully accepted a position on the Dallas Park Board from Mayor Starke Taylor in 1984.

Ida enjoyed her time with the Park Board, but her true love was cooking and entertaining; during all this time she continued to visit the Dallas Farmers Market weekly. Unfortunately, other local shoppers were going less and less. During the 1980s, grocery stores transformed from small mom and pops into warehouse-sized supermarkets, selling produce not just from Florida and California but also places as far away as Chile and New Zealand. All across the country, local farmers markets were in crisis, struggling to compete with the trend toward big-box stores. To top it all off, during the late ‘80s/early ‘90s the streets around the downtown market in Dallas were under construction, and Shed 2 was not yet finished – the market site, in short, was a mess. In its efforts to make the market a better place, the city temporarily made the market more difficult to visit, and farmers (and shoppers) were leaving in droves.

Ida had just resigned from the Dallas Parks Board in 1991 when Paula Peters from the Central Dallas Association (now Downtown Dallas) asked Ida to meet with her. Ida, Paula, and several others from the city had breakfast at La Madeleine on Lemmon Avenue and came up with a plan to save the market. What was needed, they argued, was not more money, but someone who could organize volunteers and come up with events that would attract more visitors to the market. Ida was the perfect choice – her experience in political campaigns would come in handy when the market needed volunteers, and as a weekly visitor since 1953 nobody was more familiar with the market and its needs.

Out of that meeting, the Friends of the Farmers Market was born, a private, non-profit group devoted to bolstering the city’s efforts to improve the Dallas Farmers Market with Ida at the helm. “Each year,” Ida told me, “we tell the City Administrator what we have to offer, and ask what the city needs.” The Friends’ agenda is the city’s agenda, which is to help the Farmers Market in any way possible.

The first thing the Friends did to bring more people to the market was to start a series of cooking classes. Paula Lambert of the local Mozzarella Company and Debra Orrill, a friend of Ida’s and, at the time, local chairman of AIWF, suggested the idea of starting classes at the market. Jim “Sevy” Severson, then chef at Dakota’s and now chef at his own establishment, Sevy’s Grill on Preston, helped to get the classes on their feet — “Sevy, for ten years, recruited all the chefs for all of our cooking classes,” Ida told me. Because of Sevy’s longstanding commitment to the market and to helping young, local chefs, there is now a Jim Severson scholarship fund at El Centro.

Ida is a healthy, glowing woman whose stride was sometimes difficult for me to keep up with, and yet unlike our current crop of localvores, Ida smokes and drinks as much as she wants. It was over several glasses of Scotch, in fact, that the idea for the annual Farmers Market Hoedown was born – Ida happily showed me pictures of the night she and her friend Marsha Singer, a local event organizer, drank enough Scotch to come up with the annual hoedown idea. The hoedown was a success and has been bringing in crowds ever since, allowing chefs to show off their talents and local farmers to ply their wares to large, eager crowds.

I asked Ida what she felt was her biggest accomplishment, and she paused. “I would say, the fact that we are still in existence,” she finally told me, “because there were maybe two times since [we started the Friends] that I was ready to close it down.” There were times, she told me, that she even considered privatizing the market, because there didn’t seem to be any better alternatives. “The membership [of the Friends] would go up and down, up and down,” Ida continued, “and you couldn’t get anybody to work, and you expect board members on any board to work, and a lot of years, that didn’t happen . . . the fact that Chad [Houser, current President of the Friends Board] was smart enough to have that orientation, and have somebody come in and explain the role of the board, that was brilliant. The fact that the Friends are still alive, the fact that the market has reached the point where they are, the fact that the city finally believes that it is worthwhile, and the fact that Janel Leatherman has helped the Market finally show a profit ” –these are the things that make Ida proud.

All this is wonderful, of course, but Ida is a very modest woman, and her accomplishments with the Friends are far more impressive than she will readily admit. All the things that currently bring in the most shoppers to the market – the cooking classes, the hoedown, the ice cream social, the partnerships with local chefs, and even the new stress on local food as opposed to food brought in from further than 150 miles away – every single one of these originated with “Mama” Ida, and the friendships (and the Friends) she formed along the way. Margaret Crow, a long-time friend of Ida and a proponent of the local food movement, told me “I have been friends with Ida for many years and admire her civic work tremendously . . . especially with the support Ida’s shown to the Farmers Market.” Walking through the market recently, Ida stopped and pointed at what appears to be a giant basket turned upside-down and 4 or 5 “pumpkins” scattered around it, forming what serves as a set of table and chairs. “Isn’t that ridiculous?” she said, “but I love it!” The Friends get criticized, Ida said, when money is spent on public art at the market, but the media forgets to tell people that according to city bylaws that Ida helped put into place, 1% of market-related bond money has to go towards public art. It’s art like this, she maintains, that is making the market a more attractive place to be.

Everywhere you look at the market, in fact, you’ll find evidence of Ida’s work with the Friends. The administration building where the cooking classes take place was furnished with money and volunteers from the Friends — “the first year we had a Bunsen burner and a can of water,” she told me. The artist-created benches in front of Shed 2 product of the close relationship between the Friends and the city, as is Shed 2 itself which, through years and years of hard work, money, and input from the Friends and the city is finally coming together as the focal point of the market. Pecan Lodge Catering, the newest addition to Shed 2, not only has new, beautifully-built stall — its entire catering operation is run from there, a perfect example of what needs to happen to keep the market thriving.

Ida has been around the Dallas Farmers Market for a long time, 57 years in fact, and I asked her how it has changed over the years. “There are some faces that I see that I have probably seen for 30 years, but it seems to me it’s a younger crowd now. I think I am the only person my age who still entertains at home. Nobody does, they go to restaurants. But it’s my way of life.” It’s the younger crowd, she told me, and the chefs especially, who have transformed the market in the last five years. As more and more chefs have committed to buying local whenever possible, interest in the Dallas Farmers Market has grown.

The City of Dallas, according to Ida, did not always consider a downtown market an important thing to support, but all that has changed. “I think that the city is doing an incredible job at getting all the fresh stuff. They go out and really hit the streets, the roads, the highways to find the kind of market people that we want, the fresh lettuces you’re seeing, the mushroom guy, on and on and on are the result of their efforts . . . the lady that does the breads, they found her, then the Kurry King . . . what people are looking for, Janel [Leatherman] is smart enough to get out there and find.”

It’s taken twenty years to accomplish, but with the help of chefs like Debra Orrill and Jim Severson, local purveyors like Paula Lambert, members of the Friends board like current President Chad Houser and, increasingly, an eager group of city administrators hoping to build a permanent home for local food in Dallas, the Friends board Ida created in 1991 has given the market a new breath of life. Eating local is still a challenge, but the younger generations are increasingly interested in meeting those challenges head on. In fact, local farmers like Mr. Lemley are almost treated like rock stars among Dallas locavores, his tomatoes spoken of with a mixture of reverence and awe. “WHERE did these tomatoes come from?” I’ve often been asked when offering Lemley’s tomatoes to a new-found foodie. My son, in fact, has always refused to eat tomatoes, but now he simply asks “Are they Mr. Lemley’s?” and if I nod yes, he smiles and dives right in.

It’s been almost a century since Americans have truly eaten locally, and “Mama” Ida has been around to see many of the changes between that time and now. Talking to Ida, it’s easy to tell how excited she is, not about the work that has been done already but about the exciting changes ahead. Walking around the market with Ida was like watching a kid in a candy shop – at almost every stall she stopped and greeted the proprietor personally, tasting and smelling and smiling at everyone. I brought my three children along that last day I spent with Ida, and gave them a few dollars each and free range of the market while Ida and I talked. My kids and I did a lot of things on that Saturday – softball games, a movie, and dinner at a local Mexican restaurant.

Their favorite thing all day? It was unanimous – the market. It’s almost comical that in 2010 we would be trying to eat the way we did 100 years ago, but even children can tell that there’s something special about it. Children, that is, and big people like “Mama” Ida Papert.

Mama Ida and the winning team of Joshua Webster, Elvin Westbrook, Charles Miller, and Aaron Cessac at the Third Annual Mama Ida's Ice Cream Social in 2008.

I am so sad to report that Ida Papert passed away last night. Mama Ida has been a driving force behind the Dallas Farmers Market since the mid-50s. Her tireless efforts to make the Farmers Market a vibrant force in downtown Dallas are well-known among foodies, farmers, and bureaucrats alike. In 1991, she formed the Dallas Farmers Market Friends, an advocacy group that boasts more than 400 members, and, in 1993, she joined forces with the American Institute of Wine and Food to start cooking classes in the Market’s Shed No. 2.

Each summer the Dallas Farmers Market Friends hosts the Mama Ida’s Ice Cream Social.  Local culinary students and kids from the Dallas County Youth Village are given local ingredients and a chance to compete for a cash prize. She was a tireless fighter for farmers and local ingredients. Personally, I can not imagine a world without Mama Ida. She was a dear friend and the most loving, giving person I’ve ever know.

Mama Ida, we will miss you. I think we should organize a effort to name one of the sheds after Mama Ida.

UPDATE: After roughly 24 hours, over 100 Dishers had asked their genies to revive their favorite restaurants!! Let’s dig through and see.  After 146 genie rubs, Lola gets the most requests, at 8.  Lots of love for Il Sorrento with 6 rubs and Cuidad at 5.  The Wine Press and Uncle Tai’s had 4 mentions.  Surprises for me included Routh Street and The Riviera only getting one comment each.  Lots of love spread out for Stephan Pyles’ concepts including Baby Routh (3), Star Canyon (3), and Aquaknox (2).

Question 1: What is that in the picture?

Question 2: Where is it?

Avner Samuel tops his sea urchin parfait with a pinch of gold leaf. Photo by Christina Barany.

Unfortunately, Uncle Nancy wasn’t feeling well yesterday, so she sent me along with People Newspapers photographer Christina Barany to cover The Last Supper at Aurora. Chef/owner Avner Samuel said he was going to pull out all of the stops on this dinner, and he most certainly did. It was an elaborate 11-course meal that consisted of some of the most exquisite ingredients around. Think black summer truffles, prime osetra caviar, and gold-leaf garnishes. And the service was superb – the waiters were polite and attentive. It was my first time to dine at Aurora, and I’m heartbroken that I won’t be able to return like so many of Avner’s loyal customers have over the years. I can easily say it was the best meal that I have ever had. But my post-meal happiness quickly turned to panic when I received the bill. I thought this was literally going to be my last supper. I was either going to die of a heart attack right then and there, or Uncle Nancy was going to kill me with her bare hands for somehow managing to rack up a $560 ticket. I tossed and turned all night trying to figure out the best way to break the news to Nancy, none of which really sounded like great options. I thought up story after story, but I decided the truth was the way to go. Jump for Nancy’s reaction and the recap.

This is what went down when I got to the office this morning.

Nancy: How was dinner last night?

Me: Well, it turned out to be a little more expensive than I would have thought. I’m really sorry. I’ll help pay my part.

Nancy: No worries! I was expecting it to be about $300.

Me: (Now shaking and about to pass out.) Um, it was a little more than that.

I handed her the receipt. She looked at it without her glasses.

Nancy: Oh, that’s not that bad!

Me: Are you sure?!

Nancy put on her glasses and took another look.

Nancy: WHAT!!! It cost $560?! I’m going to have a heart attack.

Me: That makes two of us.

She then grabbed her letter opener and wound up as if she was about to put it right through my eye. Luckily, Tim jumped up and restrained her. Okay, that part didn’t really happen, but you get the point. After she calmed down, I explained the situation.

The meal itself accounted for about half of the check ($125 a person with the SideDish discount), which is practically a steal considering what we got. The dinner was seriously fit for a king.

But I wasn’t expecting the cost of our drinks to double our meal. Let’s just say that I’m not exactly used to attending meals of this caliber. When Christina arrived, the waiter brought her a glass of champagne that she didn’t order. I went ahead and ordered one, figuring a glass or two wouldn’t hurt.  After my second glass, I politely declined a third because I wasn’t sure of the price – there were no drink menus – and I felt that it would be awkward to ask. The waiter sounded surprised that I was going to stop after just two glasses, so I went ahead and agreed to a third. (I’m obviously a sucker to peer pressure.) After the third, it wasn’t difficult for him to twist my arm into a fourth. So, I ended up with a total of four glasses, and Christina ended up with three, which isn’t unreasonable for a four-hour dinner. I knew the two types offered were pricey – Veuve and Moet Rose – but I completely underestimated just how expensive they were. Our waiter also offered us a glass of Sauterne to go along with the foie gras, which I thought must be a part of the deal. Turns out one of the couples at our table ordered it – there was no wine pairing – so we were charged for that too. It was also more expensive than I would’ve thought.

Looking back, I should’ve just asked about the pricing. I might have looked stupid, but at least I would’ve gotten a decent night’s sleep and saved Uncle Nancy from having a heart attack. I guess I learned my lesson the hard way. Luckily, Nancy has forgiven me and it looks like I’ll live to see another supper. But had things turned out differently, last night’s dinner would have been a good one to end on. Take a look at the photos below and you’ll see why.

Fellow diners Kristina and Phil Whitcomb. Photo by Christina Barany.

Farm Egg Custard with House Cured Salmon in Red Beet and Honey. Photo by Christina Barany.

Prime Osetra Caviar on Chiboust of Yukon Potato with Green Apple Sorbet. Photo by Christina Barnay.

Sea Urchin Parfait with American Sturgeon Caviar Topped with Gold Leaf. Photo by Christina Barany.

Parmesan Potato Gnocchi with Black Summer Truffles from Umbria and White Truffle Sauce. Photo by Christina Barany.

Vervain Infused Line Bass Carpaccio with Syrup de Piment d'Espelette and Meyer Lemon. Photo by Christina Barany.

Cappuccino of Foie Gras, Maine Lobster and Girolles Mushrooms au Moscato D'Asti topped with White Foam. Photo by Christina Barany.

Eau de Tomate on Gelee and Poached Lobster Knuckles. Photo by Christina Barany.

Pave of Foie Gras with Cypress Salt Flakes and Candied Butternut Squash with Duck Fig Sauce. Photo by Christina Barany.

Ruby Red Grapefruit Sorbet. Photo by Christina Barany.

Lamb Rib on Petit Poie Rattes, White Fairy Tail Aubergine and Tomato Acidule with Chlorophyll and Black Nicoise Olive Oil. Photo by Christina Barany.

Degustation of Sweets. Photo by Christina Barany.