God that’s GOOD!!!

I’d like to speak to the manager!!!

Saturday is here.  Our last full day in the land of summer, wine and beef.  

I wake up earlier than expected, because for the first time in 4 days, my knee did not ache all night.  

It’s 1:30, the other side of the bed is empty.  I’m aware that Adam isn’t in the apartment.

We’d talked about him going to get a suitcase and going to the wine store.  

I’m lying on the couch when he comes home.  With wine and suitcase in tow.  

He’s carrying a ton of bags.  He even has a three-litre bottle of Aperol in his possession. 

He drops everything, and then goes out to get lunch.  

He’s back we eat and try to watch a movie, but I can’t get comfortable.  

He ends up watching Drag Race on his I-pad and I nap.  

Around 6:30 we agree that since it’s our last night, we should go back to Tres Monos, the monkey bar.  

We end up leaving the apartment around 7:30 and get to the bar about 10 minutes later. 

We are seated at a table this time, as we’ve told them we’ll be one and done.  

Once again, we are started with shots.  This time, I ask what it is.  It is a rum based drink, but doesn’t seem to be too strong.  

We order, our server tonight, is the bartender from the night before who I think looks like my friend.  Up close not at all, but from 15 feet away, the resemblance is there.  

We get our drinks and enjoy the last warm summer evening of our trip.  

Around 8:45 we pay and head to the restaurant, for our 9:30 reservation.  Did we mention that people eat late here.  

We get to the restaurant and Chef and his family are already there.  They have bubbles in their hand and we are asked if we’d like some.  Seems that many restaurants give complimentary champagne/prosecco to their waiting guests so that the wait doesn’t seem as long.  Kind of like Disney, and their line management, only for adults.  

We all chat and hang out, waiting for our reservation.

About 9:35 a man in a chef’s coat appears and we are all introduced.  He’s come to welcome us, and to make sure that we have a great time.

A bit of backstory, Chef knows the owner of the restaurant, not close but enough for him to reach out for a reservation.  They are booked months in advance.  

Our hellos are said, and then we are invited to walk to the next block.  

None of us quite know what’s going on, but walk we do.  

At the next corner, it is explained that the restaurant runs a community garden.  The gate is opened and we go up a few steps and it truly is amazing.  There are plants everywhere, compost bins, tools, etc.  

The chef explains that it started a little less than 2-years ago.  The park used to be a place for the homeless to hang out, and wasn’t developed.  They got permission from the city, and turned it into a working garden.  It is too small to actually serve the restaurant, but local residents volunteer and then are given the vegetables that grow there. 

We hang out for about 20 minutes, looking at everything, and then are escorted across the street to their butcher shop.  

It looks like a tiny store front, but when you go in, it’s as clean as a lab.  There is white tile and a door to a walk in.  He explains that they work here, every day till around midnight, cutting, trimming and prepping the meat that they sell.  

The walk in is a glorious site.  It’s packed within an inch of its life with meat, meat and more meat.  There are entire racks of beef ribs hanging in the center.  We are stunned when he says that we can go in and take photos.  

We are there about 30 minutes, and then are walked back to the restaurant.  

The chef, hands us over to a new team member and he goes back to the kitchen.

The new guy, it turns out, is the sommelier for the restaurant.  He escorts us downstairs to the wine cellar.  

I was overwhelmed the minute we entered.  

He tells us that there are over 15,000 bottles of wine housed here.  The oldest from 1922.  Adam saw a bottle from 1956 on the shelf.  The sommelier explains that they serve about 350 bottles of wine an evening.  

I was talking to a bartender at work tonight, and realized that there is not much of a cocktail culture there.  Only a few times did we start with cocktails, and most of the time they were spritzes.  Also, only a couple of the restaurants actually had bars that served guests.  Most of the time, the kitchen was the focus of the restaurant, and not a bar.  

We learn more about the wine cellar, and then are invited into a private dining room that is also part of the wine cellar where we are treated to a wine tasting.  The wine was delicious, and we can’t believe the extent they are going to, to make sure we have a great time.

It’s approaching 11:00 and we haven’t even sat for dinner. 

We are taken back upstairs, seated and the chef reappears to see if we want to order from the menu, or just have him send things out to us.  

There is the start of a discussion, and I interject and say, anytime I chef wants to just send you food, always, always, always take that option.  

We were not disappointed.  

The table is amazing, and has genuine leather table runners as placemats.  

We were started with tomatoes, prosciutto and bread.  

Turns out every diner is started with whole tomatoes, cut into 4ths salted and are fucking delicious.  

Next came apps including sweetbreads, blood sausage, roasted red peppers and tomato carpaccio.    

Then came the first round of entrees.  

Skirt steak, so tender that you could cut it with a fork, cooked a perfect medium rare.  Except for Chef’s mom who only eats steak well done.  We were served a tomato salad as a side, and we start to wonder if ever course gets tomatoes.  

The next course is served and three perfectly cooked ribeyes appear and are carved table side.  These steaks are even more delicious than the skirt steak. 

We are finished with a crepe filled with dulce de leche and oh, my, what a perfect end. 

We get coffees all around.  

It’s approaching 1:00 a.m. when the check is delivered.  

It truly was the only way to cap the end of a glorious week.  The meal was as close to perfection as one could hope.  

20 minutes later, Chef drops us off at our apartment, and I’m grateful that I didn’t have to walk.

One more sleep, and we’ll be on our way home.   

Tres Monos!!

Adam enjoying his cocktail.

Shots! Shots! Shots!

Yummy cocktails.

Chef’s family and me.

The community garden.

Beautiful mural.

Entrance to the butcher shop.

Free Champagne

Wine tasting.

15,000 bottles of wine. They do inventory twice a year.

Tomato storage.

Tomatoes hanging above our table.

Wooden chimi bowls.

Busser cleans the table with a towel and a dust pan.

Tiny ice buckets.

Wine glasses with the tiniest stems ever.

Leather table runner/placemats.