On Friday night, the winter storm was starting, and I knew we were in a for a long weekend at home. That of course made me pro-actively cabin-fevered, and I pretty much demanded that we go out for dinner. But of course, with the snow storm descending, we knew that driving anywhere was out of the question.
So, as I tromped through the storm on my way home from work, I was working out where we should go... the only obvious choice for a nice evening out in our 'hood? Byzantium!
Actually, we have a number of nice restaurants in our vicinity, but Byzantium also makes a mean martini, has a nice club feel to it (and turns into a club right around the time I turn into a pumpkin), and is just around the corner from our home, so when we're looking for a treat, it often wins.
What a great choice it was! G started off with the Red Devil martini.
The devil horns were a nice touch. I am sad to say that I only had water, as the headache that went full force on Saturday was making it's feelings known on Friday, so I figured alcohol was not a good idea. Apparently feasting was!
I started with the Byzantium Caesar Salad. It's really cool (and gimmicky, but I love it anyway)!
The salad is so nice. It's obviously standing up in a cup, but it has several lovely cloves of roasted garlic, unique dressing, and is positively bursting with parmesan shavings. How do you eat the tower?
You knock it over!!! Look at those delicious brown creamy garlics!
G had carpaccio... one of her favorites, though she was not crazy about this version.
G said that she prefers capers, but my goodness, you could have skiied off those slopes of parm.
For my main, I ordered Beef Tenderloin Medallions with mushrooms, mashed potato, and onion rings. How bad could that be?!
Other than that gross pile of yucky uninspired broccoli, the only real issue I had with this was the jus was just a touch too strong for me. It was really overpowering. But the meat was BEAUTIFUL, tender and flavourful, and the mushrooms were cooked perfectly and really complemented the meat with their flavour, and the mashed potatoes (which are washed out on the plate, but hiding under the veg) really kicked the ass of so many mash's that may have come before it. The rings, good. The beans, good. I love beans, so am happy to have them as my obligatory vegetable.
G ordered the special which was rack of veal with spinach gnocchi and ratatouille.
It must be said. Those spinach dumplings were absolutely amazing. G was not crazy about the veg, and in fact didn't eat it, but relished the meat and gnocchi. Really nice.
There was no room for dessert, so we left and walked down to the 'This Ain't The Rosedale Bookstore" which is the BEST. I bought the Food Issue of GOOD magazine, and am looking forward to reading it in between bouts of FIFA '08 Wii play later on tonight.
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