I've been eating at some nice restaurants this week. Since it's the last week of the summer associate-ship, the prevailing culture seems to indicate it's even more okay than usual to push close to our unfathomable $60 limit. Here's what I ate yesterday and today, and what other people at the lunches ate too, as far as I can recall. I'll try to remember all of the little ingredients, since they're what makes it cool. (UPDATE: actually, I'll just use the menus on their websites to jog my memory. Super bonus points to anyone who can guess where I ate...)

I realize this post sounds so ridiculous -- that I can write so much about my $60 lunches and talk about what foods I liked and what I didn't. I know it all sounds pretty absurd. It is pretty absurd. But a lot of things about being a summer associate are absurd (more of that coming down the pike soon, I promise promise promise). So here is lots about expensive food.

Yesterday.

Appetizers. I had the heirloom tomato salad, which was 6 very thin slices of tomato (adding up to perhaps one normal slice of tomato; I imagine that in a day they probably go through about 1 tomato) topped with croutons, baby beets, tetilla cheese (whatever that is) and tarragon. Some others at the table had the lobster roll, which contained pistachio and lemon yogurt, marinated salmon roe, and came with a shot glass filled with a "homeade ginger ale granita" that was curious enough that I'd wished I ordered it.

Main Courses. I had the hot smoked arctic char, which is kind of a lighter-than-salmon-but-very-salmonesque kind of fish, atop a white-vegetable puree and covered with an apple-flavored broth that got poured from a tea kettle. Aside from spending too much energy wondering whether the crispy fish skin that was atop the filet was edible (I decided it might be, but I wasn't going to risk being wrong about that, since it didn't look so tasty anyway), it was very good. The associate to my right got the brioche-wrapped salmon, which looked like an art project, and included cauliflower tempura and some brown stuff I couldn't identify and isn't mentioned on the website. The rare seared tuna and scallops that the guy on my left got looked like a winner. I was sort of wishing I'd gotten that.

Desserts. The one I got isn't even ON the website! I got a rhubarb thing (I'm into the fruit desserts much more than the chocolate stuff -- I don't like chocolate so much) -- a scoop of rhubarb sorbet, a little stewed rhubarb atop a cracker, a small peppercorn flan (as interesting as it sounds), a stick of caramelized rhubarb, and a scoop of a very powerful soft cheese that I was not such a fan of (neither was the one on my right who tasted it). But a good dessert nonetheless. The peach soup looked interesting. The blueberry sorbet got a poor review from the associate across the table. The apple sorbet looked like it would have been a solid choice. The peanut butter parfait with fried bananas and lime sorbet looked like the most interesting, but the bite I tried made me think the peanut butter flavor was a little too intense for me.

Today.

Appetizers. I got the roasted leeks with sunchokes and some fishy stuff. It was good but the wrong choice. The guy next to me got the escargot risotto that looked infinitely more interesting. They had an heirloom tomato salad as a special that I would have tried if I hadn't gotten the heirloom tomato appetizer yesterday. I was tempted to get the octopus fricasee, which sounded good, but I've had octopus appetizers at 3 or 4 restaurants so far this summer, so I decided to change it up.

Main Courses. I got the roasted skate, which came with 3 purees -- an eggplant puree, an unidentified green puree that tasted like a very mild pesto, and an apple puree that was very tasty. I'd had skate once before and liked it. And again, I liked it. Even though I've heard people say they're ugly ocean bottomfeeders. It was good. The guy next to me, after his interesting appetizer, got the bass, and something got poured over it -- cockles and cockle broth, I think, although beats me what the heck a cockle is. 2 summers got lobster, which looked like lobster -- good I'm sure, but maybe not interesting enough. Since I'm never, ever, ever, ever again going to be eating in restaurants like this, I figure I'd rather try weird stuff. But no one can fault the lobster choice.

Dessert. I had a really good dessert. I got a linzer tart with buttermilk sorbet. Very cool. Very very delicious. I really liked it. The passionfruit pudding looked cool too, especially when they spooned huckleberries on it. I don't even know what a huckleberry is!

Gum. I had a piece of Eclipse gum later in the day. The hints of wintergreen made the gum especially fragrant and the freshness pack gave it a nice and soft mouthfeel.