Mommy Musings: Happy Anniversary

Dave and I took advantage of Gamma Linda and Aunt Niki and snuck out to celebrate our anniversary at Marcel's. It is a highly rated Zagat restaurant and certainly lived up to the hype. The restaurant clearly caters to a professional, high power clientele, but with Congress on recess, we were able to dine there without reservations (thank goodness!).

We chose a four course meal (eight courses between the two of us) with the last course being dessert (for Dave) and cheese (for me), which we shared.

I opted for a fresh heirloom tomato salad with fresh parmesan, garlic chips and balsamic reduction.

Dave choose the sea scallops over a thin slice of corn bread, sprinkled with corn and green onion and drizzled with a buerre blanc and chili oil. I loved my heirloom tomato salad, but this dish tasted great!

My second course entailed a skin crusted rainbow trout with capers and lemon butter sauce over a bed of potato puree. Dave tried the skin first to assure me it did not taste overly fishy. We were both amazed at how crispy (not one scale) and chip like it tasted. It added a delightful texture to the fish.

Dave's second course involved shrimp, lobster, and crab with edible flowers and mushrooms. While my trout tasted wonderful, this dish had an array of flavors that complimented each other amazingly.

My third course, and favorite dish of the night, was the angus beef tenderloin served with sauteed onions, garlic chips, fresh herbs over a bed pureed potatoes on red wine au jus tasted magnificient. They did not even ask my how to cook they steak - sign of a great restaurant because they served it to me cooked absolutely perfect. It would be a crime to cook this meat to medium, medium-well or well done. Bravo chef! Oh, Dave like this too!!

Dave opted for the house speciality for his third course - the Bouden Blanc. Like a terrine shaped into a sausage filled with duck, turkey, chicken, pork and other ingredients to make this soft yet tasty dish. It was served with a celery root and parsley puree I think in a bed of sauce. Very good, although not as great as the tenderloin.

In chatting with our serve, we discussed how we were celebrating our anniversary after just moving back to the area. We appreciate the personal touch on the cheese plate and dessert plate. We had three kinds of cheese from a goat cheese, brie like cheese and strong, pungent shepard's milk cheese. The first two were our favorite.