Thursday - Out to dinner at Verbena

Unsurprisingly, given the glowing reviews we've been giving it, we felt we had to take my parents to Verbena. This is such a good restaurant. In general our experience was as good as ever, but the restaurant was much busier than the last two visits - a GREAT sign! The service was slightly less perfect than usual and my entree was not as good as the pasta I had the last time, but the special salad my parents shared and the striped bass my stepmom had were truly amazing. We also tried their coffee drinks for dessert, which were incredible. That combined with a FANTASTIC bottle of wine made for a GREAT evening. Thank you Verbena - we'll be back!

Friday - Out to dinner at Shango

When Flynn read our post back from April when we went to Shango, she commented that she wanted to try it too. So here we are with her visiting in August and we're back. First, the food was excellent again. Truly not a misstep from the marinated olives and vegetables to the entrees. That said, we had two problems - one minor and one major. The minor problem was that we forgot they didn't serve cocktails (only beer and wine) and we wereall in the mood for a cocktail before eating. Had we remembered, we would have stopped somewhere first. The second problem was muchmore serious and that was that we all felt a bit rushed. We had 7:15 reservations and were hoping for a relaxed meal to spend adult time with our visiting friend. We got our appetizers before the wine even came and the moment the appetizers were cleared the entrees went down. We were done by 8:30, which must be a record. In fact the hurried nature of the meal really contributed to our decision not to have dessert there, but to head back towards home and have coffee and dessert at Creekview. Though I am certain we'll go back to Shango for the excellent food, the hurried feel makes it seem like some different management decisions are in order.

Wednesday - Out to dinner at Torches

Yesterday was M and my wedding anniversary. We, obviously, couldn't go out last night because who could miss the parade??? Not us. So, we went out one night late. We went to Torches, a restaurant we have only been to once before, and that was on New Years Eve and you can't really gauge a place on a night like that. We enjoyed it then and were ready to try it "for real".

I have to be honest, the night began rather roughly. M ordered a dry martini up with a twist and was presented with a wet, slightly dirty, martini up with three olives. we thought about keeping it, but there were a couple other martinis still on the bar and we thought we might have gotten the wrong one. So, the waitress took it back and, it wasn't the wrong one, but the bartender re-made it. Meanwhile, while waiting for the next martini, we ordered and M asked for the veal shank (yes, they have free range veal at Torches!) special. The waitress says, "Oh, didn't I tell you, we're out of that. What else do you want?" There wasn't anything else on the menu that M really wanted as much, but he ordered the steak frites. At this point drink two came and was so "dirty" that all you could taste was salt. It was, literally, undrinkable. We were seriously considering leaving, but instead we told the waitress again. The owner came over and made M's drink himself. It was perfect and that segued into a MUCH better, in fact truly excellent, meal.

Appetizers:
Grilled calamari (M)
Pot stickers (J)

Main:
Steak frites (M)
Salmon with kalamata tapenade, lemon hummus, and tabouli (J)

Dessert:
Bananas foster cheesecake

There was not a single food mis-step. We had a great night and came away very certain that our rough start was not typical. We will definitely be back :)

Wednesday - Out to dinner at Shango

Wednesday was date night this week and M and I tried a new-to-us restaurant, Shango, in the University Heights area. Shango is semi-upscale with a Creole influence. We've been wanting to try it since we arrived in Buffalo and were not disappointed. The meal starts with a little olive melange and wonderful breads served with a crelo seasoned olive oil. They serve wine and beer and have extensive lists of both, though fewer Louisiana beers than I hoped for (being a fan of Blackened Voodoo and Crimson Voodoo, neither of which are fatured). We split an appitizer special of mussels in a spicy tomato broth that was out of this world and required more bread for dipping. For entrees I had the creole seafood pasta and M had a pork chop cooked in rootbeer. Everything was extremely well prepared. M thought the chop ended up a bit sweet for his taste, but felt that was a personal preference and not a flaw in the dish. All in all, very yummy. We will be back.

Wednesday - Dinner out at O'Connells

We always try to go out for a fancy dinner when my folks are in town and have been making the rounds here in Buffalo. We've found some wonderful places (and some not so wonderful), but we'd heard a lot of buzz about O'Connell's from foodie sources and have been excited to try it. The welcome we received from Kevin O'Connell senior inclined me to love the place right away - welcoming, friendly, and totally at ease. This is a man I'd like to know forever and I exchanged about three sentences with him! What an opening! The menu at O'Connell's is seven courses for $40. Yes, you read that correctly. Seven courses $40. The first course is fixed (a truffle soup this week), but you get two or three choices for the rest. The food was nearly flawless, inventive, and interesting. We had very few criticisms (and they were minor) and I kept declaring each dish "my new favorite". We had a WONDERFUL time. That said, this is WAY too much food. We took seven small boxes home and I felt way too full even with that. We didn't learn if the ala carte menu (served at the bar) is available in the dining room, but I hope to go that route next time. And there will be a next time, even if I have to tell them to skip ahlf my courses and I'll pay for them anyway :)

Thursday - Dinner out at Gratzi in Ann Arbor

Antipasti misti

Orecchiette Rustica (J)
Bistecca al Forno (M)

Cappucino Gratzi (J)
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Our first date night in a long time. Totally excellent.