PART FOUR

DINNER

There is only one difference between a long life and a good dinner: that, in the dinner, the sweets come last.

—Robert Louis Stevenson

 

My Mom’s Dinner Menu

Before-Dinner Drink: Peter Kortner’s and The Martini Brothers’ Perfect Martini

Wolfgang Puck’s Salmon Coulibiac

The Tornabenes’ Buccatini with Cauliflower, Pine Nuts, Currants, Anchovies, and Saffron

Solferino’s Steak with Truffle Cream Sauce

My Almost-Made-Up Fava Bean Puree

Nancy Silverton’s and Abby Levine’s French Boule and Challah

Romanée-Conti’s Greatest Red Wine: La Tâche

Smoothest White Wine There Is: Bâtard-Montrachet

Burgundian Store-Bought Cheese: Époisses

Martha Stewart’s Tarte Tatin