My first visit to Central Restaurante was back in May, and then again in August. When I got back home after the first visit, I told Ed that it was the Best Meal I Have Ever Eaten. He thought that was quite a statement, and he dared me to Put Up or Shut Up. We bought our tickets for this trip then.
The pressure was on for me. Ed eats out a lot, and although he will eat just about anything, he knows good food when it is in front of him. And he has been pretty successful in business, so he's been to many fine restaurants.
SPOILER ALERT: He won't stop talking about how good Dinner was. Which is a good thing, because my words and photos will not do it justice. I am not going to try, but just assume that everything -- EVERYTHING -- was delicious, perfectly prepared, plated beautifully, and just the best of whatever it was on the plate that we have ever had.
We arrived right on time at 8:00 and were seated immediately for our two and a half hour Dinner. The bring you Bread, Butter and two types of Potato Chips to start.
Everything comes with a story. Most of the stories -- I don't understand, ether in English or in Spanish.
For our Appetizers, I had the 'Hot Cebiche' and Ed had a Shrimp dish.
The Hot Ceviche was a mix of Fish and Seafood. It was cooked, and then they poured a Ceviche-like Juice/Sauce over it at the table. Ed took one bite of his Shrimp and just plain stared at me in amazement. To accompany the dishes, they brough us what looked like chunks of charcoal, but were really (I think) pieces of Yucca.
I hate Yucca; this was delicious.
For our next Appetizer, Ed and I split the Beef Carpaccio. They put it on two plates for us. Here's mine
You can't see it, but the beef slices are at the bottom. The tan/orangeish stuff turned out to be flakes of Foie Gras. That's either Duck or Goose Liver. There are also chunks of Gravel on top. I don't know what the Gravel was, but it was the best Gravel I've ever eaten.
For my main course, I chose the Cordero (Lamb).
Three chunks of Lamb Meat in a wonderful glaze. On the side were little square things, with flakes of something on top of them, covered with some other thing. Don't know what they were, but I ate everything on the plate. My side dish usually comes with the Fish dish, but I asked to substitute and got the Rice with Scallops.
Best Rice and Scallops ever. 'Nuff said.
Ed had the Short Ribs.
"Best Short Ribs Ever," he said. Here';s how much he liked the place: He happily agreed to pose for photos. Not just let me take pictures... he posed. He hates when I do this.
For Dessert (I never have Dessert), we split the Cheesecake and the Chocolate Assortment.
The Cheesecake comes with a bowl of Eucalyptus leaves spewing smoke (to add to the sensory overload), and the Chocolate thing had three or four different types of Chocolates, all with different stories of how they were raised from pups. There was more Gravel involved this time... it was Chocolate Gravel.
With your coffee, they bring some other finger Desserts. The ones on the right were served on an Edible Rock.
You don't believe me; go there on your own and eat the rock. If you have room.
Along with the deliciousness, the service is impeccable, the atmosphere s wonderful, and you get to watch the 67493720570 people in the kitchen flurrying around and preparing every plate as if they were sending their child out on his first day of school.
I have eaten in Central three times now (I have another reservation for next week). They are the three best meals I have ever had.
Have far in advance do you have to make a reservation. I guess Monday is the best day to go.
ReplyDeleteJ.
I made this reservation a couple of months ago, after we bought the plane tickets. When we were leaving Monday night, I stopped at the Hostess stand and made a reserva for this Tuesday. She had plenty of room in her book.
ReplyDeleteI am guessing that for a weeknight, a week out or so should be OK. On this particular Monday, every table (both upstairs and down) was taken.