As you may have read, DD took me to Iridescence for my birthday this past Friday. Iridescence is a AAA 4-diamond rated fine dining establishment at the top of the new Motor City Casino/Hotel in Detroit.

My two word review: Yummily Romantic

My more detailed review:
We arrived promptly at 7:30 for our reservation, only to find that they’d lost it. We seem to have bad luck with this as it has happened before. But no worries, they seated us right away, and in my opinion, we had the best seat in the house. Iridescence is a small-ish rectangular restaurant with an open kitchen and one wall of windows. There is seating along the windows, and then more seating a couple steps up from that. We were in a corner booth on the “upper” level that faced the city. Looking out the wall of windows, you could see downtown, old Tiger stadium, and the Ambassador bridge to Canada. All quite breathtaking as the clouds set and the city lit up. Perfect for a romantic birthday dinner. I really wanted to pull out my trusty camera and snap some pics, but I thought that would look a little, well, low-class. And I didn’t want to look low class at such a high class locale.

As for the food, it was quite yummy. A good list of appetizers and salads; we selected the sampler platter that included a piece of tuna sashimi, a lobster roll, an eggplant ravioli, and a scallop. Just one of each, you know how fine dining is…bite size. I immediately regretted not ordering a salad, but I was trying to not have DD drop an entire paycheck on my belly.

Waiting for dinner, we had some tasty bread (only one piece, the bus boys carefully helped us make our bread selections, no bread basket cluttering up the table here). We also enjoyed an extra little appetizer – a slice of cucumber wrapped around a crab mouse — compliments of the chef.

For the main entree, I ordered chilean sea bass, which came with some asparagus as well as crab and white cheddar grits. I know that sounds odd, but OHMYGOD was it good. I could have eaten an entire bowl of that shit. My sea bass was perfectly cooked — so flaky in fact that I could hardly pick it up with my fork. DD ordered the rack of lamb. I only had a small taste because it was medium rare, and though the chef recommends that, my stomach does not. But it was so good, it just slid down my throat, no arduous chewing needed.

Our server was very attentive, giving us background of the restaurant and letting us know how fresh everything is and their commitment to organic food. After dinner she brought us hot towels, which was the moment the “amateur” showed in my amateur foodie self. She gave us the towels and said something about “after dinner cleansing”. All I could think was: “What the hell am I supposed to do with this thing? Put it on my face? Because a nice hot towel on my face would actually feel really good right about now.” But I knew better, so I kind of wiped my mouth and waited until she left when I looked at DD and he said “it’s to wash your hands, duh.” Duh, indeed.

The dessert menu was loaded down with fruit options and if there’s one thing I require about my dessert it’s that it includes chocolate and NO fruit. So all of those were out, but they did have a fabulous sampler that included so much chocolate I didn’t know what to do. DD and I split that and spent the next hour enjoying dessert, cuddling up in the booth, and watching the city lights. We’d already killed a refreshing bottle of Riesling, so we moved on to espresso (him) and a mojito (me).

Before we left, another little treat was brought out, compliments of the chef. I decided I’m really a big fan of the whole “compliments of the chef” thing…makes you feel all special and one-of-a-kind.

Iridescence is definitely the place for special occasions as I couldn’t even guess what our final bill came to. But if you’re in the market for a special occasion destination, it’s the place to hit. The view alone sells it, followed closely by the service and quality of the food. Their 4-diamond rating was given to them for the past several years when they were located in the casino basement. Now that they’re on the 16th floor, they have an entirely different ambiance and I’m wondering if they’ll get that last coveted diamond. I hope so.