Maestro Restaurant, McLean

Well, that was one of the finest meals of my life. The food was creative, and exquisitely delicious and the presentation and service went right along. We had the prime table right in front of the truly open kitchen. In addition to the five courses ($105), one of which was dessert, there were three amuse bouches (one on ordering, one after ordering, and one before dessert), a miniature birthday cake (white chocolate mousse and raspberry) and a plate of petit fours. That might have been my favorite part -- the petit fours platter consisted of two bite-sized treats. One was a marble passionfruit sorbet enrobed in white chocolate, while the other was a miniature molten chocolate cake. In many ways, these summarized the brilliance of every course -- a tremendous contrast of flavors, textures, temperatures.