Dining one night in Manhattan, I stumbled upon an epic culinary masterpiece: peanut butter and jelly.

At David Burke & Donatella, one of New York City's premier dining establishments, a friend and I were treated to the 7-course tasting menu by my father. Each course offered a unique flavor and presentation: of particular note was the first dessert course entitled "petits fours on a petit four", which was a small painted cast iron oven with an arrangement of petits fours on top.

Before stuffing ourselves to the brim with miniature cakes, we were presented our third course, simply called "PB & J". Being the peanut butter addict that I am, I was thoroughly excited. I can still picture the dish in my mind. The presentation was simple; a piece of bread with a hole cut in the center and filled with some sort of paste. There was a sauce covering the bread and dripping over the sides, and it was served with a small green salad at the top of the plate.

After hearing the description from the waiter, we learned that the paste was a torchon of foie gras, which I scooped out and passed along to my father since I dislike it and he loves it. The bread was a toasted multi-grain brioche, covered with a mixture of macadamia nut butter and strawberry-vanilla jam. My friend and I quickly exchanged excited glances, reminiscent of ones you'd expect from a 5-year old waking up on Christmas morning, and dug in.

The first thing I noticed was a scintillating combination of sweet and salty. The ratio of nut butter to jam was perfect - simultaneously stimulating every taste bud in an explosion of flavor that left your tongue quivering like an addict craving its next fix. Biting down revealed a flawless toasted texture: thoroughly crunchy on the outside with an equally enjoyable chewiness on the inside. The bread was studded with various grains and nuts that further improved the already perfect texture. The texture and sauce combination was akin to biting into the ultimate cookie: chewy, crunch, sweet and a touch salty.

As with pizza, the first bite was the best. Each following bite was increasingly depressing, not from a taste or texture perspective, but due to the realization that each bite was another step toward an empty plate. Despite the swanky restaurant and chic crowd, the plate was <b>licked</b> clean. The preceding and following courses were all outstanding although my recollection is fuzzy being that they were heavily overshadowed by the top notch peanut butter & jelly.

I'm sure you're wondering, "How good could it be?" Well for starters, I had this dish in March of 2007 and the dish is still offered to this day, an impressive statistic for such a fancy and seasonal restaurant. The presentation has since changed, but a web search will reveal rave reviews across the board for the world's most expensive PB&J. The price tag? <b>$21</b>.