Pure Food and Wine Date Night

 

After a long day at the office, there is nothing better than a dinner date with Bo!

Tonight was the last night to redeem the $40 Pure Food and Wine Groupon I bought a few months ago. Therefore, our dinner location choice was very easy and right around the corner from our apartment.

We started the evening off with a glass of crisp, refreshing Sancerre wine.

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We’ve only been here twice before and both times were for appetizers and wine only. I was excited to try some of their main courses and we therefore agreed to share everything we ordered.

After reviewing the menu for only a few minutes, we easily agreed on our appetizer choice of hazelnut crostini with crimini mushrooms and caper bearnaise, caraway sauerkraut, and local apple cider reduction.

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These were absolutely amazing though I could have easily enjoyed three more! The apple cider reduction had a caramel like texture and the caper béarnaise had a cheese texture.

The main course choice was a bit more difficult but I eventually decided on the pad Thai with kelp noodles and baby book choy snow peas, king oyster mushrooms, tamarind sauce, sesame salted cashews, and cilantro oil.

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Unfortunately it was better in print and picture than taste. It wasn’t horrible but it didn’t leave a lasting impression on my taste pallet. I’ve come to expect that Pure’s dishes will blow me since everything that I’ve ever tried has been so far beyond what I could fathom.

However, Bo’s dish was mind blowing! He chose the sweet corn and cashew tamales with chili spiced portabella. The texture mimicked ground beef perfectly and the spices made this dish so flavorful! It reminded us of our Mexican favorite and left us satiated and questioning how they could make this without any heat or meat!

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Our random, spur of the moment date was the perfect weeknight change of pace! Thank you Groupon for bringing us back to Pure for the first time in ages! I can’t wait to go back again and try the rest of their menu items!

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Double Booked

Yesterday, even after a relaxing afternoon and three hour nap, the idea of going out again wasn’t very appealing. But, after talking with some friends, I realized that I have to be responsible for my actions and just because I unexpectedly went out on Friday night isn’t a valid reason to bail on my Saturday night plans.

So, I donned my big girl pants and headed to the Upper East Side with Bo for dinner at Canyon Road with one of our favorite couples, Louisa and Eric. A double date had been in the plans for months but last night was the first time our schedule’s aligned.

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I loved the horns on the door and the Tex-Mex décor that greeted us when we arrived.

Per Louisa’s recommendation we started with their spicy guacamole and a round of drinks. I still wasn’t feeling 100% and knew I had plans after dinner so I stuck with a Corona Light.

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Unfortunately, Canyon Road has lost some of it’s pizazz in the past year and they didn’t understand what spicy meant. When we complained and asked for them to fix it the refused and instead brought us bottles of hot sauce. We then requested cilantro because you can’t have delicious guacamole without it. At this point, I feared for my life and the safety of our upcoming dinner but the manager was very friendly and quickly brought out cilantro. Unfortunately, Louisa’s first bite included part of the bowl which ended up almost breaking her tooth! While we can laugh about it now, you can imagine the damper this put on our meal.

After this introduction, I had low expectations for our main courses. Luckily, the restaurant recovered and delivered perfectly seasoned chicken fajitas, complete with whole wheat tortillas. While the food doesn’t compare to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Papatzul, the company was wonderful and no one left hungry.

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After dinner, I parted ways with the group as I had a great group of girls waiting for me at The Hurricane Club. Unfortunately, I double booked myself last night since I forgot to put our double date in the calendar. Therefore, when Theodora invited me out for girls night with some of her Junior League friends I immediately said yes! It wasn’t until earlier this week that I realized the dinners overlapped. Luckily, the girls had a New York appropriate dinner time of 10pm which meant when I showed up at 10:45 they were just finishing dinner and still ready for plenty more drinks and laughs.

One extra straw later, I was joining the girls in their second fruity group drink of the evening, the #440–7-tiki spiced rum, pineapple, kiwi and ginger. It was a bit sugary for my taste but I enjoyed a few sips along with the rest of the gang. Don’t be fooled though, sipping from two foot straws is quite difficult .

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Clearly fruity drinks make us do a group cheer, or compare rings, depending on how you interpret the picture.

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I had a great time with the ladies and was so happy to be included in their girls night. I was also thankful that New York City allows for two dates in one evening thanks to the late dinner hours.

But, after two nights out, nothing felt better than sleeping ten hours, cleaning the apartment while watching Father of the Bride, and enjoying a salad for lunch.

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The rest of this afternoon includes heading to Buffalo Exchange to sell some old clothes, workout, and homemade dinner inspired by this month’s Cooking Light.

Question: What is your favorite way to recover after a long weekend?

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Julian Serrano: Wine & Tapas Las Vegas Style

Last night, Theodora and I decided to trade in our dancing shoes for a more relaxed evening involving wine and wonderful conversation. We were able to snag a table at Julian Serrano for 8pm, early enough to make a reasonable bedtime but late enough to enjoy the people watching.

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Located in Aria Hotel and Resort, the restaurant was open and very bright, the perfect spot for a relaxing evening.

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The tapas style restaurant’s menu was a bit overwhelming and everything sounded amazing. We made our choice a bit simpler by trusting the waiter’s opinion and making sure we chose a dish from each section, ranging from verduras to carne.

Our first choice, the drink selection, was definitely the easiest as we were both craving wine after many nights of vodka and seltzer.

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Our dishes came out as they were ready, so we were able to take our time and enjoy each dish without worrying that other dishes would get cold.

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Our tapa choices, from top to bottom and left to right were as follows:

  • Pan con manchengo: The simplest dish of the evening was also one of the most delicious. The toasted bread was topped with a simple tomato and garlic chutney before the manchengo cheese was placed on top.
  • Grilled Sea Scallops: This dish was the least memorable, lacking seasoning and flavor. But, the scallop itself was very fresh and cooked perfectly.
  • Ahi Tuna: This dish was delicious and the Asian flavors offset the rest of the tapas flavors perfectly. The tuna was served in two ways, tartare and in a roll form. The light wasabi foam was definitely one of my favorite parts of the dish.
  • Grilled Calamari: The whole calamari was grilled perfectly and deliciously seasoned with lemon and garlic.
  • Sauteed spinach: I can’t wait to recreate this dish at home. The spinach was accompanied by raisins, pine nuts, and pears before a drizzle of vinaigrette. It was warm and delicious and the spinach wasn’t completely sautéed by instead lightly wilted. 
  • Flank steak: This was one of the dishes our waiter highly recommended and it didn’t disappoint. The steak was quickly seared and paired with Japanese eggplant between each piece.

As we finished our last dish, we realized we weren’t full and ordered two more tapas, truffle and mixed mushroom risotto and truffle salmon. Clearly dancing through the nights, raising our glasses, and laughing burned lots of calories and boosted our metabolisms this weekend.

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Both were very rich and we were only able to eat a few bites.

We enjoyed one final toast to the wonderful weekend before heading back to our hotel.

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While Theodora was at the ATM I decided to use my last dollar bill in the Irishman slot machine. I finally had luck and won!

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As soon as I won the $10 I cashed out which allowed me to leave Las Vegas $6 richer than I came. Maybe next time I’ll have more luck.

I’m not in route to Savannah for my mom’s 60th birthday tomorrow! Hopefully all my connections are smooth and I’m able to catch up on sleep. I definitely think a 4.5 hour nap will occur on my first leg to Charlotte!

See you in Savannah!

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