orchids served me a meal so good that it dragged me out of blog retirement

i know i said i was done blogging due to boredom, annoyance, etc. but i was unprepared to have my blogging resistance conquered by a restaurant meal whose awesomeness was so overpowering. i had a meal that i must write about.

do you want to have that meal too? well i can tell you that cincinnati magazine is right... go to orchids. it is the best restaurant in cincinnati. i ate there a few weeks ago with cincinnati eats and had the most delicious, impeccably served, and memorable meals that i have had in a very long time. i have no pictures so you are going to have use your i-mag-i-NA-tion!

orchids is inside the netherland hilton (or whatever it is called) hotel downtown. i have blogged about its brunch before. i love the brunch, it is amazing. i have never had a sit down meal there before though because it is too expensive for me, so i jumped at the chance to go with cincinnati eats. they do events at different restaurants around cincinnati where you get a 3 course meal for $35-40 on an off night. they do their events once every few months. you preorder your menu choices and you buy your own drinks.

i started off the night having cocktails in the lounge with a couple friends. the atmosphere there is so nice, it is all art deco and beautifully maintained. it is upscale but you will not feel out of place in jeans. we were treated to some hilarious people watching as a couple girls seemed to think that the appropriate attire for a cincinnati eats dinner was 80s prom dresses with spiked heels.

i had a cocktail that i think was called the wise one. i think it was some combination of whiskey, cherry liqueur, sage, and maybe something else. it was completely delicious.

then we sat down to dinner. the first thing to note is that even though this was a group event with everyone paying well below menu price for the food served, the restaurant did not skimp at all in the quality of service or food. it was exactly like you were having a meal there that you had paid big cash money for. they served us three types of bread with three different delicious dips and spreads, an amuse bouche (some type of savory bacon custard inside an eggshell, which gave me the fun new experience of eating out of an egg cup with a tiny little spoon).

the meal itself was perfect. i went for the full carnivorous experience and got pork belly as my appetizer which was melt in your mouth delicious and rich, and a ridiculously tender strip loin for my main course which was perfectly medium rare and served with i forget what kind of unbelievably rich mushrooms and savoy cabbage in a dark, rich sauce. yes, i just said rich 3 times in one sentence. both portions were very generous. i also tasted the tuna loin which was huge, perfectly rare, and served with a really interesting chick pea sauce and brussels sprouts leaves.

the desserts were... actually i don't remember. i had my cocktail and a few glasses of wine by then and i'm not a dessert person so it wasn't memorable for me. i do remember that along with our dessert, we got one of those cute little multi tiered plates with rich, smooth chocolates and tasty homemade candied fruit.

the service was absolutely top notch, to the point of having all the waiters remove the lids off our food at the same time. however you know it was really good service because you always had what you wanted when you wanted it but nobody was snotty or made you feel at all out of place. it is the best service i have had after my meal at bouley, which is the highest compliment i can give for restaurant service. during our meal, the chef came out to meet everyone and thank us for coming. this was for people who were paying below price for his food. he was totally modest and welcoming, a rare and awesome quality in a chef who is creating food this good.

the price was obviously good because of the group meal. it is definitely worth shelling out for full price though. you will not be disappointed. i will probably retreat back into hiding now but this meal is still on my mind three weeks later and i had to share it.