On the last day before I returned to California from my trip to New York, Caroline organized a date for us.

We started with brunch at Alice’s Tea Cup. We ordered the usual three tier stand with scones, eggs and yogurt topped with granola and fruit. Of course, we also chose a few teas out from their huge collection.

After eating, we walked over to the American Museum of Natural History.

I had so much fun that I forgot to take pictures in most of the museum. ^^

Our favorite exhibit was the butterflies exhibit. There was a greenhouse with hundreds of live butterflies. We were lucky enough to choose to visit it when they were bringing out the newly hatched ones.

Right as the museum was closing, we quickly walked as deep into the museum as possible so that we would have more time in it. We ended up in one of the old wings dedicated to rocks and minerals.

We were hungry after a full day at the museum and took a short walk to Michelin One star restaurant Dovetail where Caroline had already made a reservation.

The restaurant is very upscale, with white tablecloths and most men wearing suits. The cuisine is described as American Contemporary, which I usually interpret as fancy fusion food.

The first things we ate are some complimentary canapés: crackers, cornbread and arancinis with truffle oil.

Next is the first of the amuse-bouches: coconut panna cotta, blood orange gelée and sturgeon caviar.

The second amuse-bouche was an oyster with a riesling gelée and elderflower.

There was a chef’s tasting and a vegetable tasting on the menu, but we both chose the four course meal where we choose one course from appetizers, vegetables, entrees and dessert.

Caroline chose the sweetbreads, soft poached egg, cauliflower and nettles for her appetizer. She thought that the sweetbreads were much better than any that she had before.

My appetizer: arctic char, green tomatoes, horseradish and lettuces. The char was perfectly cooked and the horseradish sauce was light with just the right amount of spiciness. I’m going to try to replicate it at home.

Caroline’s vegetable dish was the cucumber vichyssoise with pineapple, enoki mushrooms and peanuts. This vichyssoise was much lighter than ones I have had in the past, probably because of the use of cucumber.

My vegetable dish was the fava bean ravioli with morel mushrooms and pecorino. How was it? Let’s just say I would have been satisfied if this dish was all they served me for the rest of the night.

When I first took a bite of some ravioli, I knew it tasted like something I had tasted before, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. After a few minutes I figured it out. It tasted like tom yum soup! This dish was hands down one of the best dishes I have had this year. Just looking at this photo makes my mouth water.

Caroline’s entree was the maine sea scallops with crayfish, asparagus, bacon and porcini mushrooms. The scallops were heavenly.

I had the halibut confit with spinach, haricots verts and artichokes. This was my first time eating fiddlehead fern!

Before dessert, they brought out yet another complimentary course: celery glacée with yogurt foam.

Then we had dessert! Caroline chose the bittersweet chocolate soufflé with mint chip ice cream. There was a bit of theatrics as the caramel sauce was poured into the soufflé.

I had the fried green strawberries, pale ale sabayon, fennel-orange jam and vanilla ice cream.

Then finally, when we thought we couldn’t eat any more, the server placed a slate on our table and brought out a wooden box with 8 different petits fours. He said we could have as many as we wanted, but we went with just four: a grapefruit gummy, dark chocolate with walnut, a yuzu macaron and white chocolate with cocoa nib.

Dovetail was one of the best restaurant experiences I have had. I have never been to a restaurant with so many complimentary courses on top of the food we ordered. I highly recommend it to all you New York friends.

The museum of natural history was as educational and fun as always. I can’t believe that I still haven’t seen all its exhibits.

Thank you for planning such a lovely date, Caroline! Writing this post makes me want to buy another redeye back to New York.