something I sank my teeth into

One bad dining experience certainly deserves to be followed by an exceptional one and I have only two words for it: Piperade, Chef. Okay, it doesn’t hurt that Piperade‘s Basque owner/chef Gerald Hirigoyen is as charming as all can get out (could it be that French-Spanish accent of his?). But I was not prepared to be blown away (twice in one week…must be some kind of record for me) with every single dish put before me – meaty dungeness crab salad (though I did bite into a sizable piece of shell – which plays into this story in the next paragraph), sea bass with brussel sprouts in a hazelnut brown butter sauce (OMFG this was delicious), and a dreamy caramel custard for dessert. The restaurant itself is open and friendly, everyone there from the staff to the patrons, seemed to be having a genuinely good time. Even Chef Gerald who was seen busing tables and getting food out (you gotta love that in a chef), was chatting up the customers in between his stints as busboy, host, chef, and waiter.

Alas my culinary nirvana didn’t last long as later on that night, while innocently slurping my favorite pho at Minh Tri, out popped a crown I had on one of my back molars, loosened by the bite I inadvertently took on the crab shell, no doubt.

Ah, the price one pays for infatuation.