The best meal of my life

One of my favorite places to take visitors to Kennett Square is Talula’s Table. It’s a super cute gourmet foods store that sells coffee, pastries, sandwiches and salads at lunchtime, and local and imported food products that are excellent host gifts. There’s also a cheese counter, prepared foods, house-made deliciousness like bread, soup, and sausage. Everyone who works there is really friendly and knowledgeable, and most of them wear charming, handmade aprons from a local seamstress. All of the labels are handwritten. In short, the place is awesome.

At Talula’s, there is a large, wooden table. It’s The Table from the name. Every night, parties of 8-12 sit down and eat a seasonal meal, chosen by the chef. It’s purported to be the hardest reservation in America because you have to make your reservation exactly a year in advance. The line opens at 7am, and if you are the first one through, you get the reservation on that date in one year. How crazy is that? The Talula’s dinners are mythical in Kennett Square, partly because of the rarity of reservations, but mostly because the food is supposed to be amazing. I always assumed that I would tell the tale of Talula’s, but I would never actually experience it. Can you imagine? Gathering at least 6 friends, getting them to commit to a dinner a year in advance, having no say in what’s served (minus allergies), and then paying a pretty penny? Yeah, probably not.

Several months ago, a new friend of ours told us about “another table” at Talula’s. Say what? Apparently, in addition to the farmhouse table, there’s a “chef’s table,” in the kitchen. You get the same food as at the farmhouse table, and you can get a reservation just a few months in advance, but it’s invitation-only. Lucky for us, our friend had an in with the booking guy, and he reserved the table for us, him, and his wife! That’s how I had the best meal of my life on Sunday night.

JG and I arrived at Talula’s first, bearing wine to go with dinner and beer to go with dessert. Dan, one of our servers, ushered us to the little café table at the front of the restaurant. The lights were low, and we heard faint chatter from the people at the farmhouse table. I was so excited. Our friends showed up soon after, and we had 3 small bites to start:

• Local Mushroom and Lobster Terrine and Roasted Potato
• Medjool Date Stuffed with Mascarpone, Roasted Butternut Squash, and Toasted Pepitas: sadly, I did not get a picture of these because we ate them too fast, but it was one of my favorite things of the night
• Cauliflower Soup with Roasted Cauliflower Bits and Crisp Salami

Then, we proceeded to the back of the restaurant to the kitchen. The chef, sous chef, 2 servers, and a dishwasher were bustling around, doing their duties. The kitchen was bright and clean, but fairly minimal. Our table consisted of 2 rolling butcher block counters, pushed together, with 4 stools. There was a large vase of tulips, and each place setting had a cloth napkin and a placemat. I loved being in the kitchen. The lighting was way better for pictures, but the best part was that we got to watch and talk to the staff the whole time.

For the next 4 hours, we were served 8 courses of staggering deliciousness. Every time, the server would set down the plates in just the right way and say, “What we have is…” and launch into an extremely detailed explanation of the food before us. We learned where it came from, how it was prepared, and how it should taste. Everything was so thoughtfully prepared and composed, and of course, delicious. There was a basket of housemade breads, like Bavarian pretzel rolls and cheddar sourdough. Even the salt was pretty! I was so, so happy. I mean, look at this.

• Steelhead, Soft Eggs, Smoked Roe, Crème Fraiche, and Potato Wafers
• Petite Snails, Barley and Fennel Ragu, Garlic Chips
• Salt Cod Fritters, Creamed Kale, Horseradish, Tomato Fondue
• Goat Cheese Gnocchi, Sweetbreads, Mushrooms, Prunes, and Lemon Cream
• Line-Caught Tuna, Curried Lamb Sausage, Curried Grape Sauce, and Crisp Capers
• Smoked Beef Ribeye, Cheddar Polenta, Sweet Onion and Spicy Poblano
• Raw Milk Raclette, Rissolé Potato, and Little Pickle
• Baby Pecan Sticky Bun and Salty Maple Ice Cream
• Lemon Macaron with Lavender Cream (my first one!)
• Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie (to go)

JG went on and on about how there was a prune that tasted “just like bacon!” and I could not get over the awesome snails dish. Each course was only 4 or 5 bites, but that added up over the long haul, and we practically rolled out of there at the end of the night. The staff was thanked us for coming (!) and encouraged us to come back soon. If we were made of money, we’d be back in a second. I am so glad that we got the chance to have the Talula’s experience, and I can not wait until we try it again in another season with a new menu.

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