Jean-Paul’s Rating: 5/5 Food Orgasms  6/5 Hurting Pocketbooks

The highlight of my recent trip to Grand Cayman was without a doubt a trip to Blue located in the Ritz-Carlton.  Everything in Grand Cayman is expensive.  Blue is probably the most expensive of them all.  I was afraid that I was not going to get anyone to go with me when I noticed the prices, but three of my friends were momentarily drunk enough and in full vacation mode and threw caution to the wind and joined me.

We each had the seven course tasting menu with wine parings.  Add on the various pre-dinner and post-dinner freebies, and it was closer to a ten course menu.  No wine parings for the freebies.  So sad.   Calling the meal divine doesn’t do it justice.  Alas, I will never be able to recall the names of the wines, but each paring was a magnificently chosen compliment to each course.

By far, and across the board, we all agreed that the first course, the tuna-foie gras,  was the best.  It was a thinly pounded layer of tuna lightly brushed on the bottom with foie gras and placed on top of a toasted baguette with chives.  It was transcendent.  I could easily have had seven courses of just it and been happy.  Also well worth mentioning were the poached halibut and the striped bass and the mousse that was served as part of the desert course.  It was all quite yum.  That isn’t to say the other courses were bad, but they were only excellent.  They included a crab salad, a lobster dish which, with the wine pairing, tasted better with every bite, and one course I don’t quite remember.  The highlights of the wine were my finally finding a Riesling that I enjoy, a very excellent Merlot, and a Tempranillo that was to die for.

Now that you’ve read this far, I’ll tell you the price.  The seven course meal with wine pairings and one pre-dinner cocktail cost $400 including a 20% tip.  Yeah, I know, ouch, right?  It is three times what I’ve ever paid for a dinner.  The big question is was it worth it?  Yes and no.  No meal is worth that much, but the meal itself was the best I have ever tasted and given the company and the enjoyment we all had, I believe it’s a good once a lifetime experience if you make more money than you should but less than being comfortable throwing down $400 for a meal.