A Tasting

Have you ever been to a tasting or eaten from a tasting menu? Nope. Me either. Until this winter. See, I we have this these fabulous friends who do adventurous things when it comes to dining out. They're the ones that sign up to go to various festivals and drink tastings. They decided to open this world to us, and we're so glad they did.

The deal was this: the servers wouldn't tell us what they were serving to us so as to not scare me off. If you know me, you know I'm not so adventurous when it comes to food. I'm what you call a "basic eater." However my palate is widening. As evidence by this menu we ate. First, flatbread with squash, bacon and chicken; chili pepper straws on top. Yum! Below you'll see a cold plate with anchovies (yes, I ate one!), shrimp, smoked pork and yummy cheese. Sauces made the taste even that much better!

Of course there was wine to be had. Loved that.

"What is THAT?" you ask? I wondered the same thing. Before the server could even say a word, I asked her not to, letting her know I probably wouldn't eat it otherwise. If you can tell, it is a calamari over risotto. I was told by Mike, "It's just black risotto." Good thing that's what he said, otherwise I wouldn't have touched it! After I was almost done, he spills it, telling me it is black because of the squid ink. What?! Not what I thought I would have eaten that night. But I did. Again, good thing they didn't tell me what it REALLY was.

The next course was a seared tuna. I'm not much for cooked tuna any kind of tuna other than the kind I make sandwiches with. This, again, was new territory for me. And, delicious to boot! You can see I ate some of it before I took a picture-I almost forgot!

Next was something I was more familiar with: a grilled fillet. Delicious. On top of pureed cauliflower. Not what I was prepared for, but delicious with everything on the plate. Nothing but yummy goodness for this section of the menu!

Upon entering the evening, Lisa asked if there was anything I didn't like; anything completely off the menu for me. That was a tough one, since there are so many things I haven't had. But there was one thing I knew I really didn't want: mushrooms. Not a fan. The slimy texture of this is what gets me. Maybe I'll come around sometime. I've got time...but the chef (executive chef/owner/friend of Lisa and Mike's) knew this. See what he did with my mushrooms:

Finally, dessert. Interesting when it was set in front of me. Not what I've ever ordered for dessert. I'm a chocolate girl through and through. But I broadened my palate and tried something new: panna cotta. It had pomegranate seeds in the citrus-flavored sauce. Interesting. I think I ate about half of it and liked it ok, but I still like chocolate best. 

I absolutely loved this night. We couldn't have asked for better friends to do this with. Friends like Lisa and Mike are great to have because they are adventurous. They like new things. They try new things. And they like to bring people like us along to try them too. Thanks, friends! We loved every minute of our night together and can't wait to do it again soon!