Kent’s birthday dinner and celebration for his MBA

Kent’s birthday was on Friday, and since he also graduated with his MBA this month, I decided we should find a really special place for dinner. We both enjoy gifts that are experiences, so I knew he’d like it. I didn’t want to go to Story, not that there’s anything wrong with Story. We still love the place and when we’re both fully employed, I know we’ll go there more often although maybe not weekly. Instead, I wanted to find a restaurant that would be new to us both.

Long story not so long, we went to Corvino’s. I hadn’t heard of them but the tasting menu option sounded amazing. When I mentioned that we were going there to a work colleague, he raved about the food and asked me to take a picture of the tasting menu so he could see what we had. We also opted for the wine pairings and while pricey (OK the whole thing was pricey), those pairings were inspired and completely enhanced the dinner.

The tasting menu is seated in a room off the kitchen, and it’s far more intimate and private than it sounds. We could see the kitchen and hear some of the bustle, but we weren’t so close as to be distracted. The chef himself served us several of the courses and explained them to us. And we had two sommeliers who served everything, food and wine.

Since I have a shellfish allergy, my menu is slightly different than Kent’s, but in no way inferior. My favorite appetizer was probably the tator tot with roe, and hands down the pasta was the best of the rest of the courses. It was all I could do not to lick my plate after that course.

The apricot bars mentioned at the end of the menu weren’t actually served with dinner. They were wrapped in cellophane and then put in a small muslin bag for us to eat later. We ate them yesterday and I’m glad I waited. They were rich, very rich but not too rich—but I think after that amazing meal, it would have been too much.

We’ve decided that when Kent gets a job, we’ll go back and do the tasting menu again and opt for the upgrades (you could get an extra course of caviar, and you could upgrade the rib eye to Japanese Wagyu beef, but we were already spending a lot so said no to both).

Kent's before dinner drink

Kent's menu

My menu

The take home snacks