On the Bright Side

What if you only got to see the menu after the meal? For my swanky readers out there, this may not sound like big news, but to me it was a strange way to dine. I had this experience recently in Paris. It was probably for the best, because once I saw the descriptions of what we had unabashedly crowned the best meal of our entire lives, I was pretty sure I would not have ordered any of it. Leave it to the French to decide for you what your meal will be and what wine you will have with each course. (“Zees eez zee best wine you may take wiz zees.” Translation: You will have this wine with this course and there are no exceptions. You are in France and we invented both cuisine and wine, so bon apetit!”) And, truthfully, they really do get it right. A bottle of champagne was brought to the table immediately and we “approved” (as if it could be bad!), and I looked around to get an idea of what I might like to order. It was going to be tough to decide between the grilled goat cheese looking thi...