Dinner Out Last Night 04.02.10

We had a great time last night at dinner. My girlfriend Deirdre was able to join us for dinner. My husband and Deirdre have a very similar sense of humor so we all had a great time. There was much chatting, laughing and lot of carrying on. In fact there was so much fun and frivolity that I forget to take pictures of the appetizers.

Deirdre had a green salad with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, croutons and pesto.  This would be great with a firm vegan white slicing cheese.  Dan ordered gazpacho. I had the roasted portabella and sun-dried tomato salad with pine nuts tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. This salad normally comes with goat cheese. When I make it at home I will use my nut cheese.

Here is the picture of the specials menu from last night in case it gives any of you inspiration.

I always find reading what Ian has in his mind each night gives me many ideas that I can make vegan at home.

For dinner we had the pasta special without the chicken. It have so much flavor without the chicken I really can’t see why it needed it. The pasta also included lots of very lightly cooked asparagus, tender artichoke hearts, thinly sliced fennel, fresh tomatoes and onions in a lemon basil sauce. There were large threads of lemon zest and basil in the dish that made the flavor pop.  I liked that the sauce was light and not thick. I think spring pasta dishes should be lighter to match the weather.  Clearly Ian agrees. I guess that is where I picked up the habit.

To go with our dinner we had copious amounts of green tea to wash it down.

The restaurant was packed last night. At one point I looked up and there had to be 20 people waiting to be seated and every table was full. When the weather is good and they open the patio neighborhood people come out of the woodwork.

At the end of the evening Ian came out and sat down with us for about 20 minutes before he left for the day. We chatted about food and his recent vacation. It is so nice to have a neighborhood place where we feel like family. We really are very spoiled.

Unrelated Note:

As normal Dan and I were chatting this morning about what to make for dinner tonight. We seem to have settled on a big salad platter with fresh and marinated vegetables, a grain salad and garbanzo beans. To go with that we are going to have some polenta and panelle crackers with spreads. My only concern is that my parents may not consider this an adequate amount of “real food” for dinner. I may add another dish to dinner, but only time will tell.

I have garbanzos cooking now and need to get the polenta and panelle cooking soon. There is also going to be another variation of nut cheese tonight. This time I decided to combine macadamia nuts and raw pumpkin seeds to see what that does to the flavor and texture. I have a lot of food to put together this afternoon so I had better get moving. Talk to you all later when I will be back with at least a couple recipes.  I hope you arell have a wonderful Saturday!