Jared and I totally prescribe to the fantastic Hallmark consumerism that is Valentine's Day. It's an excellent excuse to go out to dinner, swap sappy greeting cards, and exchange a fun gift or two. Some years we've gone big, other years have been low key.
This year Jared made a reservation at Ocean Grill, on the Upper West Side. Breaking our own rule, we returned to the Ocean Grill after more than three years. Dinner at Ocean Grill was one of our first really great dinners out after we were both living in the city, in the fall of 2009. We have distinct memories of dinner there for a few reasons: great seafood, a great bottle of white wine, and an up close and personal sighting of Representative Eric Cantor (R- VA, House Majority Leader). I was SUPER excited to see him. It was right around the time the Affordable Care Act was being debated and I really wanted to share my views as a voter (which were quite different from his) however Jared was concerned the Secret Service might taze me. So we simply passed him on the stairs as he departed the restaurant and we were shown to our table. C'est la vie.
While there were no politician sightings this time, we had a great time and a great dinner, so on to a restaurant review. The restaurant was super busy when we arrived, so we grabbed drinks at the bar, and soon learned our first lesson to martini drinking at upscale establishments: what is left in the shaker is yours. Kids, don't miss out on perfectly good gin or vodka just because it's a cozy (read: squished) bar where you can't reach it and you don't want to cause the host any additional work. Either way, we both enjoyed a nice drink before we sat down for our meal. (Drinks were so good that Jared's new drink is a gin martini which I'm sure will be a blog post topic in the future.)
We started off with a shot of lobster bisque, which was treat as we sat down at the table. We checked out both the Valentine's Day menu, and the regular menu, and made our decisions. We started the night off with a mix of oysters from Washington and Prince Edward Island, which were refreshing. Jared ordered branzino, served with honey glazed carrots, sunchoke puree, brussel sprouts, salsify (had to look that one up, it's basically a root vegetable), and sherry sauce. I ordered lobster thermidor, which was laid out in the shell, with brussel sprouts, carrots, and mushrooms (which were given to Jared throughout dinner) in a cream sauce. It also came with a side of caramelized cauliflower. It was the best cauliflower I have ever eaten. It was savory and sweet, crispy and tender. The caramelization was primarily garlic, butter, olive oil, salt, and pepper; simple but scrumptious.
Three martini's later, for Jared that is, we moved on to dessert. The day before Valentine's Day was Ash Wednesday, during which I committed to giving up chocolate for the Lenten season. Kind of a bummer before a nice dinner out, but whatareyagonnado? Jared ordered the molten chocolate cake, and I ordered the salted caramel cake. Mine was excellent, and Jared's looked really good too. We departed around 10:00 full of great food, and ended our evening at home with aforementioned greeting cards. It was a fun Valentine's Day, the last one as 'singletons' before the big day!