UR Dining’s special event this weekend, the Valentine’s Dinner, was a luxurious 23-declining-dollar meal. Our expectations were high for the food, but we were anxious about becoming squashed sardines as we have in the past.
Fortunately, we underestimated its fanciness. Unfortunately, we showed up 30 minutes late. This would have been inconsequential had it been in Douglass Dining Hall, where everything is buffet-style, but instead it was in the Genesee Room, where it was proper-restaurant-style.
Oh boy, was it bougie.
When we walked into the ambiently dark and candlelit room, uniformed waiters were weaving in between the circular tables covered in white cloth.
It was a four-course meal — the kind where waiters would say the names of each course (all vaguely French-sounding) before serving it.
“This is the butternut squash and pear soup with a cranberry gastrique,” our waiter said before placing the dish onto the golden platters on the table. If you don’t know what a cranberry gastrique is, neither do we. It tastes vaguely like ketchup.
Bonus: they had non-alcoholic champagne. We’re not sure what it was, but it was sparkly and it was sweet and in little skinny glasses, so we aren’t complaining.
The shaved frisee duck confit salad, though mostly consisting of French words we do not know, had three different types of protein: bacon, egg, and duck. We like proteins. They had good proteins. We were happy.
Our favorite was the third course, autumn’s harvest filet of beef with jumbo lump crab. That’s right, beef and crab. In the same meal. You don’t see that in Douggie.
The desserts were house-made strawberry and espresso French macarons which came in heart shapes. But to be honest they looked more like Cupid’s peachy butt, and we don’t like eating ass-like food, especially if it’s obnoxiously sweet.
Also, the dinner was not at all vegetarian or vegan friendly. Even though the UR Dining Services announced the menu along with the event, this was still disappointing.
After the desserts, the waiters went around and handed out roses. They only gave roses to the ladies in the room, which I guess was meant to be romantic. The guy at our table said he didn’t mind it, but deep inside we could tell how disappointed and lonely he felt. Who doesn’t want a rose? Who doesn’t want free things?
We also have a great suspicion that the women at the table were served first, but we can’t say for sure since we didn’t go in expecting to keep tabs on order of service as it correlates to gender.
To be honest, the food was great. Props to the chefs. @DouggieChefs, it’d be so lovely if you could make dishes like these for the normal Douggie dinners. (A long shot, but we gotta try.)
