A very enjoyable meal at Le Cirque. I’m a sucker for a classic French menu. I selected the 5 course (10 was just too much for my first night of four here) menu although I did opt for the Maryland crab with Russian Osetra caviar (gold leaf also of course), foie gras (with a very nice sauterne), and Brittany langostine supplements along with the veal cheeks and peach parfait. All the dishes were well prepared. Wine pairings were excellent… The only mild surprise for me was the pairing of the Gevrey Chambertain (Andrea Setterholm would have enjoyed that for sure since that’s one of her favorite wines) with the langostine course (caviar and beurre Blanc. I was assuming a big white but a light red worked great). The sommelier was good although he gave much much more attention to tables of 4 or more (boo hoo for the single diners). Service was very attentive, very NY haute cuisine (from what I remember) bordering on hovering (the second you finished a dish, there was someone to whisk the plate away). Martin’s service and hospitality were excellent though. The base price for the menu and the wine pairing are a relative bargain compared to Bay area Michelin star pricing. Dress code is very Las Vegas…I wore a jacket but I was one of only two in the early dinner crowd. Mostly business casual (some more casual than that…) and in general the women were all better dressed than their male counterparts (often true anyway in my experience). In any case, an auspicious start to my culinary excursion here in the city of sin.