While having dinner in the middle of the Brown Hotel kitchen Friday night (more on that later) Chef Laurent Géroli popped out a slab of beef that he reverently showed the diners in his cooking class. “This cost $1300,” he told us, and went on to extol the virtues of the Kobe beef on exhibit on his prep table. He may have been pitching to the wrong audience at my end of the table as my husband and I don’t eat beef, but I did have to admire his passion. He even passed around a certificate of authenticity with the cow’s noseprint. (Still not sure why that was on there.) As we sipped our wine and dined on the spectacular meal he’d prepared in front of us in the kitchen, he told us all about the extravaganza coming up on Sept 4.
If you’ve got $295 (plus tax and tip) burning a hole in your pocket and love Kobe beef like I love a perfect salmon sashimi, by all means book this event. Diners will sit in the kitchen (I love how as foodies we’re all obsessed with sitting in the bright, hot, bustling kitchen as opposed to somnolent and luxurious dining rooms) and partake of an over-the-top meal experience.
Because perhaps a 12-oz ribeye of this $1300 tidbit isn’t enough, your dish will also feature sliced black truffles. If I had this kind of spare change sitting around, I’d go and ask for a plate of truffles, hold the beef. You’ll begin with Blue Fin Tuna sushi and finish with Wasabi Chocolate Ice Cream and sip paired wines and sake along the way, with the always entertaining and fabulous Chef Laurent and English Grill manager Neal Ward indulging your foodie desires.
And if you’re too replete drive home after, well, no worries – they understand you’re broke after this dinner so they’re giving you a break on club level room -- $99 for dinner patrons.
Do let me know what all the fuss is about if you have this Kobe beef. Call Neal Ward at 736-2998 to reserve one of the 12 seats. Meanwhile I’ll save my pennies for an all truffle chef’s table.
