Date Night

For the last few weeks we've had a date night every Tuesday. It's been great to have something to look forward to that's just for Charlie and I AND for the first time, in what feels like a long time, I get to indulge myself in two things that I definitely took for granted before we had Abby... getting dressed up and trying new restaurants! It's been a good trade though. I get to spend my days playing with Abby and now I get a quick glimpse of the best parts of my pre-Abby life every Tuesday night.

Anyway, we've tried some new restaurants and I thought I'd give you a rundown of the highlights. If you have any suggestions for places we should try I'd love hear your ideas!

Anchovies & Olives
Pros: Loved the atmosphere, great seafood, interesting flavors, definitely not stuff you'd make at home
Cons: Very expensive, especially since most plates are designed to share which is great because you get to try a lot of stuff, but I don't know about you, but small plates add up fast!

This place was great, small space (definitely make reservations), lots of windows, an open kitchen, the place was crowded on a Tuesday but not so crowded that you couldn't talk over the crowd. The food was impressive and full of surprises. The menu was a little intimidating, but the staff is really helpful and I am pretty sure both Charlie and I would have licked all of our plates if only we weren't surrounded by both fancy, sophisticated people and Capital Hill hipsters... We probably won't go back until we have a special occasion and to be honest I might opt for one of Ethan Stowell's other places, How to Cook a Wolf, if I were forced to choose, but it would be a very tough call, especially since I do love seafood...

Frank's
Pros: great neighborhood place, food is delicious. Small menu, but there's generally both adventurous and safe bets to be found.
Cons: I guess it's a little pricey, especially since the portions can be small, but who really needs a GIANT plate of food?
This is our neighborhood spot. We love it. We've been a number of times and although I'm generally not inclined to go to the same old place when there are so many new places to try, there's just something I love about Frank's. We love the tuna carpaccio and there's a burger and fries that I love too, but the specials are great and although I rarely order a cocktail at a restaurant, there's so many great ones to choose from that occasionally they win me over at Frank's. There's outside dining coming this summer, so we may be back a lot...

Avila
Pros: Good food (loved the mussels), chef's bar, there's a cool outdoor area and a private room
Cons: I thought it was a little pricey for food that didn't really knock my socks off
Last Tuesday we went to Avila during restaurant week, it was so full that the only place to sit was the chef's bar. I actually LOVE to sit at the chef's bar because you get to see into the kitchen and check out the food that you didn't order as it comes out and I can say that there were some very delicious things coming out of that kitchen. I'd read some mixed reviews about Avila so I had sort of low expectations, but I got to tell you I thought it was really good. We started with the mussels and they were outstanding. Charlie and I almost always get mussels to share at every restaurant we go to, so I consider myself a bit of an expert. These were some of the best and they came with an amazing toast for dipping in the sauce. LOVED it. I almost wish I would have just ordered that... but I also got some halibut. The fish was perfectly cooked and it came with a razor clam meatball that was full of flavor. Since it was restaurant week we also got dessert. I ordered the chocolate souffle or something... I didn't really eat it. It was so hot I couldn't really taste it, it's highly unusual for me, but it really wasn't worth the calories (Molly Moon's is right across the street so if I owned Avila, I might not even bother with dessert).

Cantinetta
Pros: cute atmosphere, good cheesecake
Cons: mediocre
I really wanted to like Cantinetta, but even going into it I was so not excited about it. I can't really tell you why. I guess it started when I looked at the menu online and wasn't excited about anything. This is very rare for me. I generally get very excited about menus. Not this one and maybe it was my attitude coming in, but honestly the food was very disappointing. We started with the mussels. Blah, and sandy. Gross. They do offer focaccia as their bread though and it was good. Charlie got a salad, the dressing was a raw egg, not my favorite. It was flavorful though. Then came my halibut with turnips. I know it's weird, but I actually ordered this entree because I love turnips. Oh they were disappointing. The only flavor in those turnips was water and salt. Ugh. Watery. Salty... not what I love about turnips. But the worst thing was the halibut. It looked beautiful, it had a perfect seared crust that I try to get at home but somehow always fall short (I think I may be trying to be too healthy), but it was overcooked. Gross. I hate dry fish. It tasted like banquet food. So sad. We did end with an espresso cheesecake that was wonderful. Oh, and the lady across from me had what looked like an excellent red meat dish. Maybe it deserves a second chance, but I don't know if I have it in me.