I was invited by Merrill Lynch for 1 hour of CPE and dinner at the restaurant, the Lark. The Lark is located in West Bloomfield, Michigan, near the corner of Farmington and Maple. The CPE course was fine. However, the food was amazing.
I have a passion for taxes. My second passion is food but I am a health nut. My family and friends think my eating habits are little strange. Especially my wife. I consistently eat a “clean diet.” My daily meals are not appetizing for most people. But I consider food fuel for the machine, my body. However, I do have cheat days. When I cheat, I do not eat bad foods unless there is a realistic possibility that the food is going to be good. Well, I was more than happy to use my cheat day at the Lark.
The food at the Lark was spectacular. The meal consisted of 6 courses. I will murder the description of each course but trust me, each one was very good.
Course 1 – Guacamole with bread. The guacamole had the perfect texture and spiciness. The bread was not your typical bread. It was almost like a large salted chip but it was bread. I had only one piece of bread with guacamole. I wanted more but I knew this was just the first course. I could have only eaten the bread and guacamole and call it a night.
Course 2 – Mint salad and salted shrimp with jalapenos. The salted shrimp had a lightly salted crust. It was like tempura shrimp but different. The crust was lighter. The shrimp were good. But if you ate the shrimp with a jalapeno slice, the combination of both was wonderfully better. The spiciness of the jalapeno significantly changed the overall flavor of the shrimp. It was hot but good.
Course 3 – Mussels and halibut. For me, this course was good but there was nothing uniquely memorable about it.
Course 4 – Fried egg plant with pearl vegetables and Spanish chorizo. Both the fried egg plant and the chorizo were very good. But what jumped out were the pearl vegetables. The vegetables were perfect little spheres and the size of real pearls. There were different colors, blue, orange, yellow, and green. We asked the chef about the vegetables and he laughed, “Are you talking about Trix?” It was funny that he said that because the vegetables looked exactly like Trix cereal. Then we asked about the blue vegetable. Apparently it was purple potatoes. We also learned that the vegetables were cooked differently so the texture was the same for each when eaten. The Spanish chorizo was crumpled and stuck together. The texture was stiff and perfectly spicy.
Course 5 – Filet mignon tips with sweet onions on skewers and spare ribs with a peach. This was my favorite course. The sweets were a close second. The filet mignon tips were delicious and tender. When people say they ate tender meat they like to say, “You could cut it with a fork.” I have had some very tender steak in my lifetime. However, I have never been able to fully cut steak with a fork. Well, these filet mignon tips could be cut with a fork. Even though each filet mignon tip was bite size, I cut it with a fork just because I could. The spare ribs were good as well. The spare ribs were served with a cooked peach. The combination of the ribs and peach was delicious. I love eating unique combinations and being surprised.
Course 6 – The sweets. There were about 8 people a table. We were served 7 different deserts. Each desert plate had 8 bit sized servings. There were two types of cheese cake, a chocolate desert, lemon meringue, chocolate turtle cookie, pineapple fritter, and a desert with goat cheese. I enjoyed the chocolate dessert the most. This desert melted in your mouth. Granted my weakness is chocolate. I am not a cheese cake fan so I did not try the cheese cake. The rest of the deserts were good.
I left the Lark so stuffed that I needed help getting to the car. Not really. It was one was awesome experience and I would definitely come back. This is a perfect venue for a romantic night. The Lark is expensive. Be prepared to pay at least $250 to $300 per couple. Needless to say, I am saving my next visit for a special occasion like a wedding anniversary.