Most of the time, I’m happy with simple food on a golf trip. Burgers, meatloaf,
and fish and chips are enough to last me from round to round. But sometimes,
there is the need to stimulate all the senses and fully savor the paragon of an
experience.At Mary Elaine’s at the Phoenician, the sensory indulgence
begins as you enter a classically designed dining room with a wall-to-wall,
floor-to-ceiling window that provides 180-degree views of the desert floor
below, where at dusk, natural shadows mingle with artificial lights to form a
spectacular backdrop, whether you dine in the main room or on the
terrace.
But the scenery soon fades into the background as you wade into the
modern French tasting menu, with each course paired with wines handpicked by one
of the highly trained sommeliers.
The seasonal menu changes to take advantage
of the freshest ingredients, and on this late fall evening, highlights included
cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup and a pair of jackfish, hamachi and
kanpachi.
But they were merely opening acts for the star of this culinary
supershow: white truffles from northern Italy. Rarer and more intensely aromatic
than black truffles, the paler version is gathered from October to December and
with a price of up to $2,000 per pound, is one of the most expensive foods in
the world.
It never occurred to me to try to calculate the cost of each
flake as the server shaved the truffles over my plate. Because Mary Elaine’s is
about giving yourself over to one of the best meals of your life.
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