Greetings!
For a frame of reference, fine dining for my family is usually The Palm, or Chama Gaucha; thus, our expectations were high for the dining experience we were anticipating for my husband’s birthday. Let me just put this up front: Expectations exceeded!
Upon entering the restaurant, we were verbally greeted with a hearty salutation by no fewer than five, count them, five members of the staff! Once we were seated, Jacob took our water and soft drink preferences, immediately followed by Danny, who was carrying four glasses of champagne in celebration of my hubby’s day. After passing out the menus, Danny regaled us with some “off-menu” offerings, that while sounding delicious, couldn’t sway us from our already chosen selections: sea bass for the birthday boy — who was slightly disappointed to learn that it was sold out — who had to “settle” for the snapper royale (snapper topped with crab and scallops); ribeye for my younger son; crab cake appetizer for my entree; and, crab cake entree for my older son. My sons split a Caesar salad, and their dad had a small one, all sans anchovies, while I had the French onion soup as our first plates. The salads were scrumptious and more than enough for each of my guys while it took me a minute to delightfully work my way through the soup that was generously topped by a mountain of cheese.
Our entrees, and our sides (creamed spinach, jumbo asparagus, and two-cheese mac and cheese, all 3 yummy) were simply superior to our preconceived ideas. My husband’s snapper was smoky and tender while my younger son said his steak, prepared medium, was “perfect.” The difference between my app-sized crab cake my son’s entree was that both of his were larger in circumference and height. The texture was — now, I’m going to refrain from using the “m” word (“moist”), because that might give the connotation that they were filled primarily with mushy breading, were succulent, overloaded w/crab. Perfect nite was had by the bday boy and fam!