Unauthorized

This was an absolutely brilliant meal from one of this country's great young chefs, Alsatian Olivier Müller, who I predict will one day be backing up Daniel Boulud at his flagship restaurant on East 65th Street. Müller is only 29 years old, but he possesses a mind-boggling talent. The food, which was as good as I have had anywhere ... even at Daniel, included an extraordinary tart flambée with black truffles and bacon bits, an amazing duck foie gras torchon, stunningly light, flavorful homemade spaghetti, a fabulous wild turbot, an earthy, rich rabbit stew that was a perfect match for the Châteauneuf du Papes, until I hit the next course, the stuffed pig trotters served on a bed of lentils from the region of central France called Puy. To be totally over the top, we had a stuffed squab and the world's most outrageous hamburger, the DB Burger Royale. What a great meal! Just dictating these notes had me salivating.

The wines included the 1980 Chalone Chardonnay, one of the greatest California Chardonnays ever made, but this bottle had expired. During its prime, this was a fabulous example of what the Chalone estate could achieve in the old days. We then had a brilliant, young, fabulous bottle of 1986 Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet, and a profound, but not perfect magnum of 1990 Château Rayas Châteauneuf du Pape. The next two wines were magical magnums of the famed old vine cuvée of mostly Grenache from Pégaü, the 2000 and 1998 Cuvée da Capo. The 2000 was a fruit-forward, amazing expression of wine, and the 1998 is one of the half dozen or so greatest Châteauneuf du Papes I have ever had in my life. This amazing effort is just beginning to show some secondary nuances in its aromatic development. The 2000 has not yet done so. We finished with a gorgeous, sweet elixir from the Pfalz, the 1994 Petri Scheurebe Beerenauslese Herxheimer Honigsack.

I can't recommend the DB Bistro highly enough. It's a comfortable venue, the quality of the food is extraordinary, and it's perfectly situated on 44th Street in the heart of the theater district. We literally "rolled" out of the restaurant and walked a few blocks to see Spamalot.