Minecraft

Tuesday turned out to be a very, very different day from what I had planned when I woke up.  We had dinner reservations at a Micheline 1 star restaurant in Colmar, JY's, for 8pm so I assumed we would have a lazy day about the house till it was time to get dressed up and head down for our 7 course tasting menu.

Nope!

Nita decided she was bored and wanted to get out of the house.  Digging around online she found a museum and silver mine in the mountains near here that had been in operation in the 16th century.  It was less than an hour away so she convinced us to pack into the car for an adventure.

An adventure it was.  We were expecting a museum and displays of history and local mining lore.  Instead we got an hour long multi media presentation of the diary of one of the mine owners from the 16th century from his escaping Venice to landing in Alsace looking for a silver mine.  Nice bit of history that covered all aspects of early mining work.

The second part of the tour involved strapping on hard hats, lights and raincoats and spending an hour with a guided tour of the mine itself, at times several hundred feet into the mountain.  Lots of mud, lots of water and some passages from the earliest part of the mine that were just barely large enough to squeeze through.  All in all it was a very cool tour.  Hard to imagine working in a mine like that with nothing more than a tallow lamp for 8 hours a day.

After the tour we had time to drive back to Colmar and get ready for dinner.

Our meal at JY's was near perfect.

Starting with local sparkling wine, we were treated to a miniature olive tree that was festooned with different spiced and coated olives hanging from its branches for us to nibble on.  Fun...

When we ordered the tasting menu, our kind waitress helped us pick a Grand Cru Riesling, Kitterle 2008 from Domaines Schlumberger.  A very wise choice, we went through 2 bottle during the meal.  Shockingly, the wine list was not expensive at all.  We chose one of the more expensive bottles at 52Euro expecting to see wines well into the hundreds of Euros.  Nope, all reasonable and respectful.

An amuse bouche arrived with several light preparations to awaken the palate.  My favorite was a buttered popcorn mousse piped into a little tart shell with a popcorn kernel on top.  Pure popcorn fun.

After, we were presented with smoked sturgeon under a citron vodka creme and a quenelle of caviar, all served in the caviar tin.  Splendid!

Third of our 7 courses(which was actually more like 10) was white asparagus in a morel mushroom sauce.  Light and perfect for the spring menu.  We openly debated licking our bowls, but they make a substantial home bread loaf that was kept warm and ready for any sauce emergencies.

Next was a calamari ravioli in an interesting seafood and vegetable sauce.  Not my favorite, but a very nice dish.

We were treated to a very nice next dish of lake trout crusted with potato souffle, capers, citron sauce and a pool of bagna caude, a warm olive oil and herb sauce.  A spectacular dish.

Sweetbreads arrived next in a massala and butter sauce with a bit of toasted bread at the bottom.  Sweetbreads, or a cows thymus glands are a delicacy we don't much see in the U.S. apart from hipster foodie hangouts.  Too bad.  Properly cooked they are a marvel of butter rich goodness.

Slowing down the meal at last was a nifty little bit of goat cheese whipped and then rolled into a spiral log with a tomato gel and then sliced across to reveal a cute spiral of cheese and tomato goodness.  Sprinkled with sun dried tomatoes and pesto made from wild spring garlic, it was a very nice nod to the traditional cheese board finish to a meal.

Then, the desserts started.  Apparently hobbits took over the kitchen and started throwing out desserts.

First dessert was a palate cleansing shot glass of sangria wine granita.  Basically a frozen sweet wine slush.

Second dessert was pink grapefruit gel set into the fruits skin.  It was like eating grapefruit candy after the meal.  They served it on a glass plate with a recessed area holding dry ice.  The server poured water into it and our table was blanketed with fog for 5 or 6 minutes.  Nifty, fun, dish.

Third dessert(told ya) was poached rhubarb over fresh alpine strawberries, balsamic vinegar, a vanilla creme filled cookie and a nice dollop of raspberry sorbet.  That may the one of best thought out desserts I have ever put a fork into.

We honestly thought the meal was over.  When we ordered coffee(espresso) for some talking and reviewing the meal, we had no idea what else was on the way.  Along with our coffee we were given 2 little, 3 drawer "jewelry boxes" that each contained 4 macaroons, 4 candies and 4 little treat for the baker.  Just an array of little sweets to finish off coffee and the evening.

All in all I think we all enjoyed the hell out of the meal.  The price for the 7(10, whatever) tasting menu was very reasonable for what we enjoyed dining on.  I have paid a hell of a lot more for a hell of a lot less in the U.S.  Michelin stars are awarded for very good reasons, JY's deserves the star they have.

As we were leaving the chef and his staff were closing down the kitchens and goofing around the front doors.  We had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting with them(turns out or waitress is his wife) and thanking them for a tremendous evening.

I hope to get back there soon.  Very soon.

Sorry for no pics of dinner, but I am fairly sure they will set you on fire our back in an alley if you start whipping out phones to take pics of everything!

Very happy...