Spill the wine

Some of you know that yesterday was our anniversary. Thanks for all the good wishes!

We went to a place downtown called LaSalle Grill, one of the nicest places in town. It was nice to get a little duded up--nothing real fancy, just slacks and a sweater--and sit there like a proper lady, or as much a one as I can be. Haha. It was a Spanish wine dinner, sort of a tapas dinner with various wines to go with the courses.

We started with an appetizer of prosciutto wrapped around green and black olives. It was delicious, and served with a brut champagne. Considering how I react to champagne, I should have known that this foreshadowed trouble.

Next was a course of seared sea scallops with a roasted red pepper sauce. These were tender and tasty, and the sauce was wonderful. The wine was a dry white, also tasty.

The next course was quail stuffed with chorizo, peppers, and tomatoes. I believe at some point a joke was made about naming it Dan. I also don't recall ever having quail before, and thought the tiny little squab was even tastier than a Cornish game hen, with a delicious smoky flavor. The wine with this course was a fairly dry red, and I think this was my favorite course.

Next up was a goat cheese salad with a somewhat fruity white. This was a nice break between the quail and the main course....

Lamb chops with a tempranillo. I'm not a fan of lamb, although these were tender, juicy, and quite tasty. I only had a few bites and passed the rest over to Ken. We tried a tempranillo a while back, and it might be one of my favorite new wines. It's a sort of robust red, almost a...?smoky? flavor...dry reds are my favorite, and this was very good.

Dessert was a crème brûlée sort of thing, and no wine was served.

Probably a good thing. You may have noticed that there was a glass of wine with almost every course. I'm not a real large person, so this was taking its toll on me, and Ken started switching our glasses so I didn't have as much to drink. When it came time to leave, he borrowed the restaurant's wheelbarrow and carted me off to the car. No, not really, but I can tell you that when I got home, I changed into my fuzzy robe, set the egg timer for an hour, and passed out fell asleep on the couch. Good grief! Everything was delicious, but it was also very rich food, and I felt kind of oogy for quite a while. There is a reason people shouldn't eat like that often! I drank water the rest of the evening (had a few bites of chocolate, too) and went to bed early. (And then couldn't sleep, of course! Tossed and turned, finally dozed off at some point.)

It's fun to go to a place like that a couple of times of year, though. The food is...I think I can safely use the word sublime. The different sauces and combinations they use are just so interesting, with such subtle and nicely-paired flavors. Really unusual, and a nice change of pace. I also had to wonder if Hell's Kitchen-type antics were going on in the kitchen. "These lamb chops are RAW!" [Chef throws the plate in the trash] "YES, Chef!"

A very nice dinner, and I believe I have fully recovered. [grin] I live to eat another day.