OK, so maybe every moment of the 4 years hasn't been bliss. But the
last 4 years have probably been the best of my life, and for our
anniversary I took Betsy to Montrachet in Tribeca. A lunch there had
figured in our courtship (though neither of us were conscious of it at
the time), so this had sentimental value.

I met her in the city after her rehearsal, we drove down to Tribeca and
then walked around in the mist for a while. Eventually we made it back
to the restaurant, and settled in for quite a nice meal. A lunch visit
a couple years ago had been slightly disappointing, but Thursday almost
everything was quite good. Of course, a slow night (combination of Yom
Kippur and rain) might have helped- restaurant had many empty tables,
so we had very attentive service (and some bonuses from kitchen).

We had an amuse of risotto balls with parmesan. I started with sautéed
langoustines with gingery pickled peaches, while Betsy ordered the
seared foie gras. She actually got Foie Gras 4 ways - the seared foie
gras with Muscat grapes, cold terrine of FG, poached FG with daikon and
a fruit sauce, and a molten FG ball/truffle.
For the main course I got duck choucroute- duck wrapped in cabbage with
a daikon sauerkraut. Betsy's veal ended up being Veal 4 Ways- there was
roast loin with a parmesan crust, sweetbreads, and a luscious hunk of
cheek. There was another risotto ball (balls and daikon seemed to the
evening's theme) - Betsy said it reminded her of a Burger King Tater
Tot, in a good way. When I looked at her she insisted she likes BK
tater tots. Go figure. Actually, the kitchen was very on, and
everything was delicious, except for maybe the duck was a bit bland ( I
guess it was maybe steamed in the cabbage? Both the cabbage and the
daikon kraut were superb, it was just the duck that needed a bit more
flavor).

I ordered a rather inexpensive wine, the 1998 Prager "Weissenkirchner
Steinriegl" Riesling Federspiel (Wachau). I'm more concerned with wine
matching than Betsy, and thought this would be versatile enough for the
langoustines, the veal, and dry Riesling is my usual choice for
choucroute. I consulted the sommelier and he agreed. I offered to get
Betsy a glass of demi-sec something for the foie gras, but she declined
(and said the Riesling went fine). I was worried re the age of this, as
a Federspiel, but it had youthful bright fruit, though there were
mature petrol notes also. The petrol, spices, and maybe some mineral
notes dominated on the nose, but on the palate the lemony fruit took
control. There seemed to be some peach notes too (at least with the
peach accents on the langoustines). Nice acidity made it quite food
friendly; there was a good clean lingering finish. All in all, quite a
nice wine for $40 on a restaurant list. B+

I had cheese and Betsy an "avocado-lime vacherin" dessert. The cheese
course included one soft sheepmilks cheese whose name I didn't get, a
Camembert, a Pont L'Eveque, and a very good Mimolette (there can be
such a thing). I thought the Mimolette would benefit from a red, and
ordered a glass of the 2000 Ch. Clarke (Listrac). Ripe cassis and red
plum fruit, not the most compelling 2000 Bdx Ive had recently. Some
light earth and cedar notes, but mostly a fairly soft anonymous red. B-

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent
wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't
drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no
promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of
consistency.