Encore! Restaurant Week Round 2, and My Return to The Refectory

A few days ago, I posted a review of my first experience at Basil, as part of the January 2014 iteration of Columbus's Restaurant Week. 70 restaurants participated this time around, and with that many choices and delictable menus, there is in theory a limit to just how far our time, wallets, and stomachs can stretch. Cue then RW encores, whereby restaurants elect to carry on the same (or at least a similar) prix fixe menu for dinners to experience. Last Monday, Brianne asked if I'd be interested in spending $35 on a meal, and upon hearing those words I knew exactly what she was implying. I had practically drooled over the menu proposed by Orsi- and Bocuse-trained Chef Richard Blondin the first time around, and so I was more than ecstatic at the thought of not missing it altogether. With each passing day then, we approached my return visit (Brianne's first) to The Refectory Restaurant & Bistro (located at 1092 Bethel).

This Is Ohio?: An Adventure at The Refectory

Late night greetings (and a special salute to French 418)! As the midnight hour approaches at the start of my writing this post, I continue to hear the sounds of the familiar weekend college crowd, a rather stark contrast to the experience I was so fortunate to enjoy this evening. But before I continue, for those of you who make the random trip to this blog post on a pseudo-regular basis, my apologies once again for not having written much as of late. I know I've said this one too many times in the past, but this week in particular has not left me much time at all to cook, let alone write (though at least I've surpassed my own New Year's commitment to writing an average of at least three times a week). This is not to say that all things food-related have escaped my consciousness altogether as we move into February; rather, I'll sincerely take this to mean I have been fed centuries of gastronomy this week especially in preparation for a true culinary adventure. From the Gauls and the Middle Ages, the French gastronomy class I'm auditing this semester has made the transition to the Renaissance (by the way, many thanks to the Italians, i.e., the other half of my culinary comfort zone) and through the era of Louis XIV when France began to develop a "French" culinary identity and establish itself among the gastronomic elite. The timing for our transition, I think it's safe to claim, could not have been any better, as our French professor Christine had the good fortune of reserving limited special first Friday prix fixe menus at The Refectory Restaurant & Bistro in Columbus. Little did I realise when we left campus on our adventure with Christine earlier this evening that our adventure awaited us at the dinner table 45 minutes away.