Savory sunset

“I’ve had enough of this, I need a drink,” Hugh said as we strolled through newly-quiet downtown Truckee.

Our destination was Dragonfly, whose motto is “Dining on a Higher Level,” situated where Café Meridian used to be. We climbed the stairs and sat outside on the balcony as the sun began to set.

We were having an early celebration of our friends Hugh and Kerry’s 18th wedding anniversary and our first. We started with glasses of Roederer sparking wine ($7). Cheers!

Dragonfly serves pan-Asian food. We had the joy of being served by Pascal, a Frenchman with the “maitre” all waiters should (but rarely) have. Pascal recommended that we start with the curried flat bread with yogurt dipping sauce ($3). His suggestion was right on. The puffed triangular pieces were yellow from turmeric with a taste of garbanzo bean flour, fried but not greasy.

We ordered the duck nachos (yes, you heard me)—a great selection—served with guacamole ($10.50).

“There’s something about the creaminess of the guacamole and the duckiness of the duck,” my husband Michael said, appreciatively.

On the other hand, when Michael dipped a piece of artichoke stuffed with rock shrimp and goat cheese in its accompanying creamy ginger lemon dipping sauce ($9.50), he said, “That’s a taste I wasn’t ready for.”

Kerry surmised the lemon dipping sauce was made of mayonnaise and whipping cream. It was on the desserty side, but we ate it all up. We had a battle for the piece de resistance and, rather than start a War of the Artichoke Heart, we quartered it.

We were so thrilled with the appetizers that we could hardly wait for our main dishes. The chef, Billy McCullough, takes great risks in putting unexpected flavors together.

The Hawaiian swordfish ($22), the loftiest of our dishes, came stacked two filets high on top of saffron rice with asparagus, separated with wonton chips and topped with mango papaya salsa sitting in a small pool of Thai curry. Kerry noted an assertive cayenne-like heat to her delicious dish.

Michael’s sea bass with risotto ($24), the special of the night, was also tall: the meaty sea bass (sorry, only one filet) was served atop a firm patty of risotto and sat in a yummy tomato-based sauce.

My Thai land and sea stew ($22.00) brimmed with Australian lobster tail, smoked chicken, andouille sausage, mussels, cherry tomatoes, snap peas, jasmine rice in a kao-soi broth. Can’t you just taste it now? We all longed for hunks of bread to sop the remaining sauces, but alas there were none.

Hugh’s pork vindalo ($21.50), aka spicy pork curry, was good, though its spices were a little overwhelming. Hugh longed for simple and straightforward pork.

Dessert was a walk in heaven. Kerry had tempura bananas with coconut ice cream ($6.50), but she said the ice cream had only a hint of coconut flavor. Michael’s lemon mousse with raspberries ($7.25) was served aloft in a long-stemmed martini glass. Warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream ($6.50) made me happy. Dragonfly’s portions are just right: not minuscule but not effusive.

Hugh had the chocolate truffle plate ($6.50) with a glass of Phillips Estate Bottle 1998 Late Harvest Viognier ($7). He passed around his demi-flute of dessert wine so we could all savor the distinct honey and apricot flavors.

As we finished dinner, the mountains shone with an alpenglow, and we realized that we’d been in a perpetual state of sunset our entire meal.