This was honestly an experience I never expected to have - eating a Michelin-starred chef's six-course menu at a fancy ski resort in the middle of the mountains. Nonetheless, I was lucky enough to have been able to be at the right place at the right time.

And all I can say is, the food was phenomenal.

The first course was called AB Carpaccio, I assume "AB" for Akira Back. This was no typical carpaccio, however - it consisted of flat circles of bigeye tuna seasoned with shavings of truffle, paired with crunchy chips(?) and topped with an umami sauce. I really liked it - usually I'm not too big of a fan of tuna since it gets a little fishy, but this was absolutely immaculate. The texture contrasts and the flavor profiles were some of the best I've ever tasted.

The next course was a Sous Vide Lobster, topped with caviar (!!!) and a seaweed butter sauce called Nori Beurre Blanc. This was also pretty fantastic (I'm always a fan of lobster), although it was just a tad bit rich for my personal taste, but still lovely.

Third in line was the Duck "Three Ways", consisted of duck breast, terrine, and shaved foie gras, and paired with fried leeks and a "farroto" made of shimeji and shiitake mushrooms. I really liked the farroto - it looked slightly bizarre but tasted delightful.

Next we got the Gochujang Miso Chilean Sea Bass, which, based on the name of the dish, I was the most excited for (I like gochujang, miso, and sea bass, what more could I ask for)? To start, the presentation was definitely a work of art in itself. I have to say that the three preceding dishes set the bar ridiculously high and I was actually a slight bit underwhelmed by this dish, but also because I'm personally not a fan of some of the ingredients - cauliflower puree, english pea, cilantro oil. I also thought the dried peach bits were a bit of a weird pairing to the fish. (I still enjoyed it though.)

Our last main course was the Grilled Montana Reminisce Ranch Filet Mignon (these names just get longer and longer). Topped with wasabi-sea urchin butter, wakame, and pickled cucumber, I love love loved this dish. The medium rare steak was more raw than I am usually comfortable with (I know, don't dunk on me) but for this particular preparation, it was the perfect amount of juicy and tender. I'm generally not a fan of uni, but the sea urchin butter was not overpowering and added a nice amount of depth of flavor.

Finally, last but not least, was the dessert course, the Valentine's Valrhona Chocolate Mousse Pyramid. It was, as you can imagine, a chocolate mousse pyramid filled with yuzu creme brulee and huckleberry, surrounded by a dark chocolate-sesame streusel, and accompanied with a Tahitian vanilla bean sorbet. Lots of stuff. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth and was also massively full at this point so I don't think I enjoyed it as much as I should have, but nonetheless - beautiful presentation as always.

Every dish was fantastic, but if I really had to rank them, I think it would've been:

1. Carpaccio
2. Filet Mignon
3. Duck
4. Lobster
5. Sea Bass
6. Chocolate

Anyways, this wasn't even a restaurant so I can't tell y'all to go check it out... but Chef Akira Back is amazing and go visit one of his [insert some large number] restaurants around the world - it will definitely not disappoint, you have my word.

tags: chef akira back, spanish peaks resort, montana