The Surprise Date

After spending most of the day holed up in our apartment (Russell was working and I was off work and generally being lazy), Russell and I decided we needed to get out of the house. It was just about dinner time, so we figured we would go get dinner and then pick up a couple movies from the movie rental place. The problem was that we had had a delcious Gyuudon lunch and weren't really interested in eating anywhere too rich. That cut out the ramen shop, and the two izakaya in the neighborhood. We decided to deal with the movies first and think it over. As we walked Russell suggested pasta. There is a pasta place we have been to several times in the center of the city that is super tasty, not too fancy, and relatively cheap. It also has a lovely view of the mountains. We didn't really want to head to the center of the city, though.

Then, Russell remembered that we had passed a pasta place close to the movie rental store several months back. I had totally forgotten about it, but I did recognize it when we walked up to it again. It looks rather fancy inside, but the menu on the board outside the door seemed reasonable, so we decided to try it. We were the only ones in the restaurant (which is always a bit eerie to me) but it did have nice atmosphere. We looked at the menu. The first page had set menus on it starting at $35 for a four course meal. The next three pages were all wine lists. Hmmm.... I checked my wallet. I had $70. Russell had $20. We decided our dinner out had just turned into a date and each ordered the set menu with a glass of red wine. So much for eating light.

What I am about to describe is the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. Russell was hard pressed to remember better himself. He had certainly never had anything so delicious for the price.

The red wine came out first, followed shortly by our antipasti: two small triangles of polenta, a small mound of couscous with two slices marinated mackerel, a slice of some sort of meat (smoked ham? smoked turkey?) and two thin slices of caramelized acorn squash. All carefully displayed on a long white plate with olive oil and basalmic vinegar artfully dribbled around the edge. It was looking like we were in for an event. Everything was as delicious as it looks - probably more so.

Next came a plate of bread. We each got a thin, crunchy breadstick and a slice of delicious wheat baguette. Its been a while since we've run into any sort of bread with an honest yeast/wheat taste. This was glorious. We have since decided that the bread does not count as a course and we were probably suppose to save it for the pasta that came after it (even though it was long polished off before the pasta arrived).

The pasta was amazing. Perfectly al dente with a light, tomato and olive oil based sauce. The sauce also had crushed olives (mediterranean style, not US black olive style) and capers. Russell commented that it was the best pasta he had ever eaten. We were both very sad to see it end and very excited to see what would come next.

Next was a second pasta dish. This one was quite different. It reminded me of a beef burgundy with gnocchi. There were chunks of beef and a local mushroom that is long, skinny and chewy in a thick beef sauce poured over gnocchi (a kind of doughy pasta dumpling). This was when we really started enjoying our wine, by the way.

The third course was the main course. Russell had ordered the meat of the day (lamb) and I had ordered the fish (a local fish I had heard of before but I have no idea what it is in English). Russell reported that the lamb was perfect. It was lightly crispy on the edges and tender all the way through. It game with grilled asparagus and assorted other vegetables. The fish came in two pieces, also grilled to perfection and paired with a fresh salad, radishes and cherry tomatoes. Neither of us were willing to share with the other.

The final course was dessert. We each got a plate with tiny portions of three very different desserts. One was a chocolate chip cake (which was a bit dry and chewy), there was also a small scoop of grapefruit sorbet and something white that we could never fully place. It was almost like a very light, fluffy yogurt, but clearly not yogurt (it wasn't tangy at all). It had a lemon honey sauce dribbled on top of it. That was definitely my favorite. Dessert was also accompanied by a cup of coffee or black tea. I had the coffee and Russell, the tea.

We are only now coming down from our food induced euphoria. Of course, its not a place we will be eating at regularly, but we will definitely go back for special occasions. Maybe next time we won't wander in wearing jeans and T-shirts, either...