Gourmet a go-go

It was a typical Monday evening. My waiter had just decanted a nice young earthy red wine. I sat at a window table, sipping slowly, listening to an amiable jazz record coming from the next room and slowly unwinding my vertebral column, which felt as if it had been twisted around my neck and head all day.

Though the glass of wine was customary, the meal tonight was special. We had ordered the rack of lamb with pomegranate demi-glaze, which came with couscous and roasted beets, and a lemon garlic chardonnay-marinated swordfish, with creamy mashed potatoes. As my anticipation of the meal grew, I surveyed my surroundings. At one end of the dining room stood a dusty, upright piano. The French doors opened out to a sitting area, which looked so much like someone’s living room. The tablecloth with its yellow and blue patterns reminded me of summer on the Riviera. I felt relaxed. I was oh so comfortable that I didn’t feel at all out of place wearing my special fuzzy blue slippers—which wasn’t surprising, considering I was, indeed, at home.

“More wine?” my waiter/fiancé asked.

“But of course,” I answered.

The chefs du jour turned out to be, not my waiter/fiancé, but David Berkley’s Fine Wines & Specialty Foods, and the recently opened Selland’s Market Café.

How many times have you said to yourself, “I’m really in the mood for lobster baked in brandy cream with leek, basil and fennel focaccia stuffing?” In truth, you’ve probably never uttered those precise words. But now you can, because the era of gourmet takeout is here.

Clearly, the fact that you can get food like this to go is cause for rejoicing. The question is, would you want to?

Let us pause for a moment and consider the ramifications of this newish development. Throughout the last century, people have enjoyed eating out and it was a sign of prosperity. It was also a way to be social and entertain yourself and others. Now we want to enjoy eating in? Is this yet another sign of economic austerity?

C’mon. Assyrian rack of lamb is hardly austere. To be frank, the trend toward gourmet eating-in seems a reflection of just the opposite. It signals the growing culinary snobbery of the middle class, who are too poor to hire their own chefs, too busy to cook themselves, and too refined for the common or unhealthful fast-food meal. Gourmet eating-in is the new eating out. Much like the automobile, the telephone, and the Palm Pilot, it is the vehicle in which we travel ever faster toward a neo-modernity. Translation? We’ve grown lazier but we like better food.

Seriously, the rationale for gourmet takeout does rest on a few facets of modern life. You come home late, exhausted from a long day of work. Maybe there are children to tend to, laundry to be done. Takeout has been a ready solution—Chinese, burgers, burritos, endless pizzas. But that gets old. You look for something new to throw in the lineup of dinners.

This entails just a bit of effort. You can call ahead and ask what’s on the menu at one of these gourmet takeout places, or just stop by on your way home. There are usually several types of meat, poultry and fish offerings and variable salads in the display case. The cost of the entrées runs anywhere from $7 to $15, and you can pick up a bottle of wine or fresh baked bread to boot.

I was tempted to order such palate pleasers as the boneless chicken breast stuffed with goat cheese and pesto from Selland’s and the peanut crusted breast of chicken with garlic, ginger, lemon and sesame glaze. But my heart said go wild, and we did. David Berkley’s Assyrian rack of lamb was superb, though a little on the rare side. The beet salad with goat cheese, onions and bitter greens was as good as beet salads get. The couscous with the curried citrus infusion was refreshingly creative. Selland’s swordfish and mashed potato entrée was more straightforward and, thus, less ooh-aah-inspiring. Nevertheless, the swordfish was excellent in its unadorned state. The mashed potatoes and gravy were solid, not too rich, with a smooth texture and finish. The only quibble I had with Selland’s was with the separately ordered mixed green salad. Too pricey and plain and really not worth the extra $6.50.

The only part that was perhaps better than the meal itself was the lack of cleanup after such extravagance. Many a dinner party have I had, where every single dish, cup, pot, pan and utensil has been dirtied. Nevermore! May the era of gourmet takeout live long and prosper.