anniversary

Celebrating 13 Lucky Years at the Six89

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem that long yet I feel like David and I have known each other for twice that long. I'm one lucky wife having a husband like David who has all the qualities I could ask for, including setting up blogs ;-) .

To celebrate, we made reservations on Sunday night at the Six89, a great award-winning restaurant in Carbondale that has numerous write-ups in publications such as Gourmet Magazine. We didn't know exactly what we wanted to order until we asked about a listing on the menu "Random Acts of Cooking".  This is such a great idea, I'm surprised more restaurants don't offer this concept. When you chose Random Acts from the menu, you leave your evening of 5 courses up to the chef's whim, who I believe was Mark Fischer.  Forgive me if I got that wrong or if I describe any of our courses in error. All I know is that I loved it.

Before ordering from the menu, we were greeted by a friendly and professional wine waiter who helped us make our wine selection. He promptly brought out the stemless wine glasses and a "beaker" of wine. This was a new sight to us so the waiter explained that you receive a little more wine with the beaker compared to just a glass of wine. He received no arguments from us.

Next, still before ordering, we receive complimentary appetizers (small photo above David's photo) which gave us a little clue that we were in store for a great evening of cuisine. We ordered the Random Acts with no hesitation. The waitress asked if we had any food allergies or extreme dislikes for any foods. We replied no but then after she left for our first course, we thought maybe we should have said, "nothing alive please."  No worry, the entire evening was filled with delicious and creative combinations of food (nothing alive). The portions were kept small due to the many courses but we were so full at the end, we couldn't possibly think of dessert.  I won't try to embarrass my self by trying to describe each course but you can look at the photos above and see that each one was prepared with great care and attention to presentation. Now, take those photos of delicious food and multiply them times 5 to describe how it all tasted. Absolutely heavenly!

I have tried caviar before and decided it's salty taste was not for me. However, the combination of a sprinkling of caviar and chives over crème fraiche on a crisp crostini was delightful (top right photo).  Each course was beautifully displayed on unusually shaped pottery which stood center stage to the simple white china for each place setting.  I won't torture the reader with a long description of each course but I will say it was worth every penny. The grilled Tasmanian salmon (left photo, 3rd row) was superb, the scallions (right photo, 2nd row) were flavorful, the beef short ribs (right photo, 3rd row) were meltingly tender, even the "intermezzo," an oriental spoon serving of sorbet sitting on a layer of diced pears soaked in Jack Daniels and ornamented with a few sprinklings of bacon (left photo, 2nd row) were refreshing and delightful to the tongue.

Ordering the Random Acts is an adventure each time (much like each year of a marriage) because the chef uses his instincts for the night. He may serve something from the main menu or he may try out something brand new he plans to premiere next month. We felt that everything we were served was wonderful from the interesting sauces to the freshness of the ingredients (which mostly come from local farmers/ranchers).

I can't wait for our 14th anniversary so we can return for another Random Act!  Thank you Six89 for making our 13th a memorable evening that we'll talk about for a long time. And thank you David for being my caring and loving husband all these years and for treating me to this wonderful evening.