Friday - Out to dinner at eve in Ann Arbor

In honor of my parents' last night here we went out to dinner again - this time to eve in Kerrytown. M and I had heard lots of good things about eve, especially positive contrasts between eve and restaurants in downtown A2. I went prepared to be impressed. The reality was that while eve is a very good restaurant, it's not a great restaurant. The service was very good, the decor was lovely, the drinks and wine were wonderful, and the food was generally good. That said, none of the food could be described as transcendent, or even especially unique. Also, several of the dishes, didn't quite work. Both my stepmother and I had a mixed green salad with garlic crouton and fresh cheese. Each of these components was lovely, but they did not combine well (crouton too garlic-y for the light salad, cheese to mild to be paired with the vinegar in the dressing). My father had an asparagus salad, where the asparagus were grilled and then served cold. The spears were tough, and the raisins and pine nuts on top were too sweet for the fresh asparagus. M had mussels in curry cream and the mussels were overcooked. All of our entrees were fine, and we especially enjoyed the sides (coconut ginger rice for me, cinnamon rose quinoa for my dad and M, fresh brussel sprouts for all). However, in the final analysis, we all felt we could have gotten similar fare for less money at a good seafood restaurant. I expect we will go back to eve, if only to see if our experience was a post-Thanksgiving whiff, but I can't say I'm especially excited.