Nec laudas nisi mortuos poetas: tanti non est, ut placeam, perirei ||| This menu dinner was planned and sketched out in December of last year. I asked for and kindly received permission to write this before his death. It was not intended as an ultimate tribute, as it must unfortunately become. Thus, I am committing myself to making this years trivial menu series into something that I may not be able to accomplish. Therefore, I apologize, and it is rightly needed as my poetic acumen is stridently contrasted to what is needed. So I humbly ask you to read this in the spirit it was conceived and not as the crowning achievement it should be.

Thank you,
Geoffrey Gatza