Restaurant Week Date Night

Last week was restaurant week here in Baltimore, and many of the restaurants decided to extend into this week.  So last night we headed to Blue Hill Tavern for dinner.  It had been a last minute decision on my part to get us out of the house and trying new things.  I am so glad we did!

Caught him a little off guard, the food was coming, and the camera wasn't working!  And yes, he came right from work and has a 5 oclock shadow!

First we shared some bread and butter and olive oil while sipping on a sauvignon blanc.  We were both have seafood for both our first and second courses, and the wine went along deliciously.  I have been craving mussels lately like nobody's business, so I ordered a first course dish that was mussels in a spicy ginger carrot broth and a touch of coconut.  There was also lemongrass in it, as we could both taste it.  It reminded me of Thai soup. (We share all of our meals, so we usually order different things from one another.)  G ordered a first course of fried green tomatoes with Peruvian scallop, shrimp and sablefish ceviche.  As much as I loved my mussels, I actually loved his more (but turned down his offer to trade....he was kinda in love with his dish too.)  I never would have paired those two things, but it was sooooo scrumptious!  

For our second (main) course I decided to go with something that had the most things I'd never tried.  So the salmon it was!  Organic salmon with vegetable quinoa, tomatillo sauce, jicama mignonette, and haricot verts.  I had never had quinoa, only have had tomatillo anything on occasion (thanks to salsa verde) and had no clue what jicama was.  I loved it all though.  The nutty quinoa, the apple-like jicama, and I honestly could have eaten the tomatillo sauce like a soup!

G on the other hand continued his shrimp and hearty theme, going with Shrimp and grits, which was grits, andouille sausage, soffritto, and shrimp etouffee.  His had an amazing flavor to it. 

We each got a dessert, but I ordered the candy bar to go.  I've had it before, it's a pretzel crust, peanut butter mousse, chocolate ganache, caramel and vanilla ice cream (the ice cream we ate at the restaurant).  It will be devoured tonight.  We indulged in a key lime napoleon with white chocolate mousse and guava caramel.  I wasn't sure about this, but by scooping the guava caramel onto the tip of your spoon after the napoleon you first got a sweet floral fruity taste and then the sour key lime after.  It was surprisingly delectable.  I'm not sure G left a single crumb!  

It was nice to get out for a grown up dinner.  G wore black slacks and a grey button down.  I wore my black dress I wore to the crab bash.  We were more dressy than most, but G wanted a nice night.  And indeed it was.