This was our third dinner at Manresa. Our first time in the summer. Oddly the other two times we went both fell in April, not sure why.

This was the best meal of the three. I don’t know if it was because summer is just full of things I love or if David was just *on* that night but everything was amazing. I didn’t take notes, I only took pictures.

Although I did note two great quotes of the evening, rarely spoken, if ever, at a dinner table:

“I really like how that wine paired with the fish and melon dish.” — WHAT? Who puts fish and melon together? David Kinch…and it’s AMAZING.

“One of my favorite things had to be the dirt.” — Still, the “Into the Vegetable Garden” dish impresses. It seems so simple but it has so much going on.

Dish after dish I was reminded why I can form words around David and not around Eric Ripert. I love how David creates dishes but it isn’t anything like ANY dish I’d ever come up with, create, cook, imagine, dream of making. Eric makes dishes exactly how I want to make them. He is worlds beyond my skill level but I’m striving. David’s concepts are completely off my plane of existence. They’re other-worldly, and incredible. It’s not molecular gastronomy or whatever the kids are calling it these days but it’s out there, new, fresh, beautiful and as far as I’m concerned, magic.