classy valentines

Though Steve and I have been together more than 2.25 years (!) we still get to learn all kinds of fun new things about each other. Like Steve is ticklish if you poke him under the ribs in just the right way, and other important things that will allow me to victimize him.

And there is still something very fun and exciting about going to a snazzy new place with someone, especially this glamorous locale.

 

True story: I am NOT a fan of Valentine’s Day. Like I hate other Hallmark holidays. While we’re on the subject, I’m disgusted by wedding expos and public proposals, and excessive quantities of Facebook posts using the word “husband” (no joke, I starting hiding all posts from a certain friend).

However, Steve is a true believer in love and destiny and all of those things, and is thus more tolerant of the ersatz expressions of love all around on Valentine’s Day because he still believes in celebrating the real thing.

Thus, our fancy fancy dinner!

You know you’ve got class when a restaurant is only named in numbers.

2941 is literally the classiest place you’ll get in the DC Metro area without actually going to DC. Well… okay, Beyonce and Jay Z stayed at the Four Seasons at Tysons (whaa? In a mall. Beyonce you are so above that. I would have let you stay at my house and renovated it in your honor and put in some kind of throne). But I still think 2941 is classier.

The outside is goooooooorgeous, on a lake (a fake lake, but cmon, it’s Northern Virginia, all the lakes are fake). There are koi ponds and enormous windows.

We were seated near an architecturally interesting and wonderfully warm fireplace, as well as a… geodey kind of thing.

  

Because of class schedules, we actually went out for our classy Valentine’s Day meal on the 15th, which ended up being kind of brilliant. No paying absurd prices for food that in all likelihood is probably worse than a typical day, no awkwardly overhearing the lovey dovey conversation of the couple next to you because they shove in so many tables for V-Day.

The menu was classy…

… unlike Steve and I, who were snorting under our breaths at “fingered citron”.

Bread arrived and was stupid good. STELLAR crust, with lots of seeds and things. Wonderful lightness within, even in the whole wheat! I have a special place in my heart for restaurants who take a stab at whole wheat, and they succeeded.

 

So the reason we were able to swing this classy classy restaurant was because of a Google Offer. I would never in a hundred bazillion years allow my boyfriend to drop the kind of bank required to swing the regular menu items.

For that Google Offer, we got a small bite and an appetizer to share, and two entrees.

The “small bite” was both of our favorite item!

Per the menu, Mushroom Tartine ricotta, sauteed mushrooms, parsley and garlic.

Well menu, WELL, what you neglect to mention is the TRUFFLE OIL ALL WHIPPED UP IN THAT AWESOMENESS!

Super awesome toasty crusty bread, heaven-truffle-cheese-whip, mushroom heaven, herbs. We were happy, happy campers as we ate this.

 

Now, let me mention our waiter, in that he was awesome. All of the waiters were, like, grownups there. And our guy was the most hilarious, charming, amusing, attentive without being hovering guy. I suspect he makes MAD TIPS.

So we told him we were just soooo overwhelmed by the delicious sounding menu and wanted to order all of these things, and he gave us our expertise.

Which is how we ended up with a half order of the pasta for an appetizer.

Butternut Squash Agnolotti fried Brussels sprouts, Parmesan cheese, fingered citron

 

Our waiter said the pasta was good but a little one-note with the sweet, creamy filling, and it was better to get as an appetizer portion. That made sense to us, and I was shocked how large the portion was for an appetizer.

The highlight of this? The BRUSSELS SPROUTS. They had this rich, intense, meaty flavor that was just crazy good. Our waiter saw us salivating us and went, “Aren’t they good?!” and we were like, “Yes! Yes!” and so he starts telling us how they make them:

“… So they deflower the brussels sprouts…”

Chortle chortle chortle. Steve and I are just incredibly immature. We belong together.

Round about this time we decided that a special meal should involve a special drink. And, quite honestly, I am such a lightweight that one drink generally goes right to my head, and Steve finds me to be a charming and amusing drunk. Eesh.

Anyway, I got an exceedingly exciting cocktail. I can’t find it on the online menu, but it involved gin, a French liqueur that was sort of herb-y, lime, and a hint of cherry (I had assurances it was not excessively sweet, which it wasn’t).

Glamorous.

Steve got a glass of Malbec, and I was glad to switch with him midway through the meal as I felt a bit wobbly.

As for the entrees, we got two to share.

Lobster Fettuccini Fideuá style, lobster ragú, saffron, pimento, chorizo

and

Grilled Rockfish squash, quinoa, salmoriglio sauce

And honestly? Not all that exciting. Good, well cooked, high quality ingredients, yadda yadda. Just nothing to write home about. Honestly, I find that to often be true at fancy restaurants. The chef uses up all of his or her creativity on the appetizers and the entrees were just, meh.

Both had their thumbs downs and thumbs up. The pasta tasted too distinct from the sauce it was in; my understanding is that it’s the common practice at restaurants to blanch the pasta before service but then finish cooking it in its sauce, and this didn’t taste like that had happened. However, the sauce, once the pasta was gone, was fab-u-lous and we sopped it up with a ton of bread. Meanwhile the rockfish was cooked well but didn’t have any particularly vibrant flavor; however the quinoa and vegetables it was on top of were peppy, flavorful, and texturally interesting.

Fortunately, we had to order dessert. Because it was Valentine’s Day! You HAVE TO!

Because our waiter was just generally so awesome, we told him we wanted a dessert to share and to bring us his favorite.

Ohhh, yes.

Chocolate Pecan Bar pecan shortbread, dark chocolate mousse, malted milk ice cream

Once it arrived, I actually remembered having read rave reviews of the fancy dessert that looked like a chocolate bar. HEAVENS this was good. Subtly salty cookie base, rich and wonderful dark chocolate mousse atop, intense shell that was still smooth (not hard like ganache gets). Heavenly. And then on the side, those little brioche bits that I swear tasted like classy french toast sticks. And that ice cream! Delightful.

A final adorable dessert note.

Cheap it isn’t, and the entrees weren’t earth-shattering like the rest of the food; still, for the sheer glamour of the experience- the gorgeous surroundings, the immensely likeable staff, and the dishes that DID wow us with their inventiveness- it was a wonderful, wonderful evening.

Happy V-Day kid.

(Final confession- all the giggling about double entendres in the menu? That was all me)

out with the fella

Had such a fun day Saturday!

I saw that the Swedish Embassy was having a Christmas bazaar, and since anything Sweden related is basically my boyfriend’s favorite thing ever in the whole world (he took Swedish in college… he loves their environmental laws… he’s convinced he was switched in the hospital at birth and is actually Swedish royalty- seriously!), I went for a hot embassy date. At one point I texted my sister telling her where we were and how ecstatic Steve was and she texted me back, “Leave and see how long it takes him to notice. My guess is six hours”.

Then since it was nice out, we went for a lonnnng strollsie.

Hello White House! 1600 Pennsylvania was decked out for the season/AIDS with a red ribbon. And there was a big stand being erected even as this photo was taken- we were thinking the tree lighting ceremony was imminent.

There’s always a crowd there. Protesters, too! First amendment, yessirree.

 

As I said to Steve- it is SO FUN living somewhere you can just stroll to the White House when you feel like it. I forget about these things!

Next we went wayyy up Connecticut Avenue to end up at… Zoo Lights! Every year the Smithsonian National Zoo does a big pre-Christmas light display. We meant to go last year but got there too late (I think the crowd changes later in the day… this year when we went around 6 it was all kids but last year as we watched the last people coming out at 9 they looked older… methinks it’s a big venue for making out!)

Very difficult to get a good picture. I did have no choice but to get the poor guy in a panda costume (!) in a Santa hat (!!) dancing (!!!) in a giant snow globe (!!!!!).

 

Go figure, the children loved him.

Elephant!

Funny how real that looks in the picture! No elephants were harmed in the making of this blog post.

Not pictured was a petting zoo with some amusingly bored farm animals and a GINGERBREAD HOUSE COMPETITION! Ooodles of fun.

Originally the plan was to Metro back to Foggy Bottom, go back to our car in Georgetown, drive through Arlington to the Trader Joe’s in Clarendon, then get back to Steve’s place and cook… but it was like 8, Trader Joe’s closes at 9, and Steve was already starving. And I was wearing inappropriate footwear and needed a rest.

And then we peeked through a restaurant window and saw this charming place.

And Cafe La Ruche it was.

When I’ve spent time in Europe (yknow… twice… well and in fourth grade but that doesn’t apply to this fact), I admired that you could get wines by the carafe or half carafe.

You can economize by getting a slightly larger quantity(rather than buying two individual glasses) but don’t have to get a whole bottle, the wine’s already been sitting out which makes red wine tastier, and for two people it’s a perfect glass-and-a-half. (Though of course, if one of those people is a lightweight like me, you’d think it was like four glasses a person).

Steve and I both opted for the special.

It arrived with first a Caesar salad. The dressing was definitely fresh made and delicious. It was actually a little too decadent for me to finish (ugh, I am saying this about SALAD, how obnoxious :D) so I passed the rest off to Steve, who was busy inhaling it (Steve REALLY enjoyed this dinner).

 

Annnnd the special of the vegetarian lasagna, in adorable individual dishes (I love food served in individual tureens and things. So cute!)

So vegetarian lasagna did not actually mean the presence of a great quantity of vegetables, but rather noodles drenched in the most heavenly cream sauce, scant little hints of carrot and broccoli, super sweet marinara, and the most heavenly crispy cheese atop (Gruyere?).

I ate wayyy more than I thought- perhaps 2/3 to 3/4 of this? It was marvy. And the rest, of course, went to cute Steve, who was swearing up and down to our waiter that he was half Italian and had never tasted anything like this.

 

Gossip at the next table over revealed that the restaurant was well known for their desserts, and it was one of those this-is-so-fun-I-just-don’t-want-to-leave-yet nights, so we opted to share a dessert. I told Steve to order whatever he wanted. He opted for the mousse au chocolat. Tasty!

 

Steve took me out for yet another fun night out (kind of a two year anniversary- YAAAAAY!- celebration).  He snagged a Groupon to Rabbit, a restaurant in Clarendon. I’m always skeptical of restaurants that say we emphasize local/organic food or we obtain local/organic food whenever possible because it’s just TOTALLY MEANINGLESS. I mean, Wendy’s could say that.

However, the food was good :) And hopefully at least some of it was local/organic.

Love that the food was good but the ambiance was casual. Witness barstools and buckets of cutlery, as well as a counter where you picked food up (and got to watch the action!)

The place actually produced a Steve-sized salad! Even my fastest-metabolism-on-Earth boy was satisfied! (Well, til like an hour later when he got a slice of pizza. But only one slice!)

And because the Groupon said any entree, I got the most expensive thing on the menu :D That’d be the seared tuna. Which came with a (slightly bland) green salad and mashed potatoes.

The tuna was good! Love a good rare tuna. The plate was larrrrge so Steve got some bonus food too!

 

Annnnd then the Groupon included cupcakes! After not at all lengthy deliberation, because these were both totally obvious choices, we opted for the pumpkin with cream cheese frosting and the chocolate with peanut butter frosting.

Look at the cute puff pastry pumpkin on top!

 

We went halfsies on both. Both were pretty good, but the pumpkin definitely outshone the chocolate- the spices in there were so good! It was also very very very moist- like, they had not skimped on the butter/oil! That is of course why it was so delicious!

And because my dessert stomach struck again, and we had a gap before Skyfall began (I enjoyed. Even the stupid gila monster part). So froyo happened. I know.

 

Anyone else been on any fun holiday season outings lately? Share!

And, do you have a dessert stomach?