A few days ago, my cousin Alex asked it I would like to join him at a chef’s tasting dinner. I said yes. I didn’t ask the name of the restaurant or the type of food. I knew that if Alex was interested in going, this was going to be some good food. Alex has worked in restaurants most of his adult life. This makes sense since he grew up with a father, my uncle Paul, who is a sommelier and always treated him to the finest food and wines.

In fact, dinner at Paul and Yun’s is quite a treat. There are always at least five courses and each course is paired with an amazing wine. Yun, my aunt, is a pastry chef and an amazing cook. One time she served a small plate of julienned green beans as one of the small courses. Green beans are on the short list of vegetables I dislike. I didn’t want to be rude, so I ate them. To my complete astonishment, I loved these. She julienned them very small and sauted the beans in soy sauce. Alex ate like a king his entire childhood.

When Alex was young, he would spend a week or two at our house over the summer. Back then, summers were bustling at our house. Archie and Ella always flew out from England for the whole summer. We loved adding Alex to the mix. He fit right into our big family.

A few times, we’d take the entire brood out to dinner. Fast food was out of the question. Alex would never eat anything from a fast food restaurant. We would go to a reasonably priced restaurant. Daphne and Ella would eat grilled cheese, Jack and Archie would have burgers. Alex ordered the most expensive item on the menu. He didn’t do this intentionally. He just chose what was best. He had no idea what the price was or that it mattered. The waiter would come to him and Alex would say something like, “I’ll have the ribeye, rare, with a side of scalloped potatoes and asparagus.” Claud and I would lock eyes across the table silently acknowledging his impeccable taste and signaling that we should order the side salad or bowl of soup in order to afford it. We didn’t mind. I loved his eccentric taste in food.

For the past four years, Alex worked at Bouchon in Beverly Hills. This is an amazing French restaurant. He was one of their top servers and also managed the catering and banquet department. Alex is still in his 20s and being a server at Bouchon is not your typical serving job. To work there, you have to really know your French food and wines. Alex was perfect for the job. Recently, he decided he wanted a career outside of the food industry. He moved here to Las Vegas and started working for Claud. I am so happy to have him close again. We have been spending a lot of time together. We cook, drink wine, and laugh. We even implemented a weekly board game night.

Well, the night before we were to go to the chef’s tasting dinner, Alex told me it was going to be a 16-course meal. How is that even possible? I didn’t think I could possibly eat that much food. I figured I could give it a shot.

Alex picked me up and soon I realized we were heading to Chinatown. We pulled into a shopping center with a Korean restaurant. Our Chinatown should really be called Asia Town because it represents all Asian food. You can get Vietnamese Pho, Ramen from China or Japan, Chinese food, sushi, or Korean barbeque. It’s pretty incredible. As Alex and I walked into the Korean restaurant, we saw a large long table with about 20 people seated at it. We were the last to arrive. Luckily, we brought several bottles of wine. Nobody else did and we shared them with everyone. This was a great way to make friends. Soon, we were all introduced and chatting away. There were a few food critics in attendance. I was getting excited about the food.

Alex leaned over and whispered, “There will probably be a few courses which are only meat.” I told him not to worry. I would try everything on this night, no matter what it was. Well, I should have thought about that statement. One course was octopus, which I never like but did try. Another course was pork rinds and I normally would never consider eating these. I did. Other than those two courses, everything was amazing. We ate yellow tail sashimi, dumplings with pulled pork, mini Asian tacos, duck jam, and so much more. I don’t know exactly what the dessert was but they were miniature bites of heaven.

I was impressed with my ability to eat all 16 courses. There was only one course I thought I could easily reproduce and include in my dinner parties. This was the salami. I usually slice or cube salami and place it on a plate with cheese and crackers. However, from now on, I am going to do it the way we had it on this special night. The chef drizzled the salami with olive oil, seasoned it with salt and pepper, tossed on some fresh dill and added some blue cheese crumbles. It was so delicious and made it a bit more decadent than the regular cheese and salami platter. It is a simple way to spruce up a party platter.

Dressed Up Salami:

pound salami, very thinly sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

cup fresh dill

1 tablespoon blue cheese crumbles

On a platter or cutting board, spread out the salami. Drizzle olive oil over the slices. Sprinkle on some salt and pepper. Top this with fresh dill and the blue cheese crumbles. Serve.