I’ve been to (and loved) all of Chef Bryan Voltaggio’s restaurants—Volt for high-end cuisine, Family Meal for quality comfort food, Lunchbox for sandwiches, and his newest restaurant, Range, for, well, everything—so I enjoyed watching him compete in the latest season of Top Chef Masters. And was proud that a local chef (well, somewhat local) had survived all the way to the finale.

Which meant that when I found out that there was going to be a viewing party of that final episode at 10:00 p.m. last Wednesday out on the Volt patio, I knew Irene and I would have to be there. And since we were going to be traveling all the way over to Frederick, why, dinner was a must! So I made an 8:00 p.m. reservation in order to have plenty of time for a meal before the screening.

We’d done Volt’s tasting menu before, and so decided to go a la carte this time around, but as you’ll see, there were still a few surprises. The meal began with a beet macaroon with foie gras amuse-bouche. A perfect start!

Then came young carrots baked in an aromatic salt crust, marsh samphire, sheep’s milk.

I only snapped this one dish of Irene’s (the others were all mine)—Chioggia beets, dark cocoa, red wine vinegar, fresh cheese from South Mountain Creamery. She scarfed it down before I could get a taste, so I’m lucky there’s even this photo as proof.

Then came the dish I was most looking forward to—Calamari bolognese, miso, squid ink cavatelli, parmesan. It was a dish that (deservedly) wowed the judges on Top Chef Masters, bringing one of them near tears, and I could see why. Pure umami, and Worth a trip to Volt all by itself.

Next up, Black Sea bass, caramelized celeriac, fermented turnip, basil, country ham. The fish was perfectly cooked, which makes me jealous, as fish is a major weakness of mine in the kitchen.

Following that was pork—braised cheek and jowl, red pearl onion, celeriac, fava beans. If not for the calamari, this would rank as my top dish of the night. Delicate meat, complex flavors.

Then, a major surprise—our server came along with two plates of beef coulotte, sugar snap peas, carrots, vadouvan, coconut yogurt and told us that they were compliments of Chef Voltaggio, who’d heard we were at Volt and wanted to make sure we got enough to eat. A gracious and totally unexpected gesture. My wife, always a sucker for a perfectly prepared piece of beef, was particularly impressed by this dish.

Amazingly, a second surprise course followed—Monocacy ash goat cheese, wonderfully creamy. A much appreciated and totally unnecessary gift. Many thanks, Chef!

My final official course was Crest Haven peach, lemon balm, sour dough, sesame, which delivered just about the truest peach flavor I’ve tasted.

But our meal wasn’t over yet, because a mignardise arrived to put a period at the end of the sentence of this marvelous meal.

Then it was time to head outside where, due to those two extra courses extending the length of our meal, we found the episode already underway. Check out part of the scene on the patio below. That cheering you hear at the end of the clip? That’s the crowd noticing that sous chef Graeme Ritchie, who’d competed with his boss on the show, had just joined us.

And here’s Volt co-owner Hilda Staples and Chef de Cuisine Ritchie watching the finale. Unlike the rest of us, they already knew the results, but managed to keep it hidden as we cheered every time there seemed to be a good turn of fortune on the screen for our team.

Sadly, Voltaggio didn’t win—that honor went to Douglas Keane—but after the meal Irene and I had just shared, we didn’t feel that Team Volt had lost. And as you can see, Ritchie was all smiles even after the results were announced.

When Irene and I called it a night and headed home, we were aglow not just from the meal, but from the infectious energy of our fellow foodies. Thanks once more to the entire Volt team for the great food, and for being great hosts as well.

BTW—not only was Volt responsible for a great dinner, but a tasty breakfast the following morning, too, thanks to the individual coffee cakes we were given as we left!