Date night

I'm scrambling trying to get JW and myself ready so I can leave him with Aunt B.  Daddy and I are having a date night!  James earned tickets to a Stags Leap Wine Dinner...should be fun.

This is our second date night....the first was to Aria in Buckhead....Amazing food.  Probably the best food we've had in Atlanta.  We had a great time and it was definitely relaxing.  The picture below is of the light fixture in the restaurant....I thought it was quite interesting....you??

Date Night - Pizza

Last week, James decided we needed a date night.  So we decided to try a pizza place we had heard (or read) a lot about.  Being that I lived in Italy for nine months and I am pretty sure pizza was a big contributor to my 20 pound weight gain (gelato and pasta probably helped a bit, too), I am pretty particular about pizza, especially when they claim its "Italian".  We went to Antico Pizza.  It's located downtown just west of Georgia Tech.  I had very high expectations.  Heck, even the website ends in dot IT, not dot COM.....Also, they only make so many dough balls a day and the closing time is whenever they run out....We went on a Wednesday and it wasn't that busy.

It's a very low key place.  You order at the counter and grab a drink (not a ton of option, which makes ordering easy) and then take your place in the kitchen.  That's right, they have 4 long butcher type tables in the kitchen area.  About 5 minutes after we sat down, our pizza was ready.  We got a margherita pizza with sausage.  It was pretty good.  The ingredients were authentic (we even noticed they import their mozzarella cheese - we saw them opening a package that had been shipped) and the taste was pretty good.  Good authentic taste from the ovens (which I believe were imported too).  The only complaint I had was the crust around the edges was pretty thick and I don't remember that.  I think that "americanized" it a bit.

Our authentic pizza experience was over in less time than it took to drive there, about 20 minutes.  Overall, the pizza was good and I would go back.  But I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be.  Maybe I had too high expectations???

Anniversary Dinner

My surprise dinner was to Bacchanalia....YUM!  So wish I had my camera.  The presentation was absolutely beautiful and the food amazing!!  Definitely worth it.  Also, Chef sends out little tastings between courses.  Puff pastry over cheese to start, then a pea soup.  Before dessert they sent out a strawberry buttermilk smoothie.  ALL were delicious, except I wasn't a huge fan of the smoothie (see dairy comment below)

Here is what I had:

Yukon Gold Potato Gnocchi
Mousseron Mushrooms, English Peas
Pickled Ramp Emulsion, Parmesan
DELICIOUS starter.  The gnocchi were perfect, not too starchy and the peas and mushrooms, YUM!

Local Berkshire Pork Loin
Crispy Belly, Anson Mills White Grits
Fresh Andouille Sausage
Summerland Farm Greens
Pot Likker Jus
One of the best pork dishes I have ever had....beats the pork I had at Jonathan's in Lexington and I'm still talking about that.

Stracchino
Summerland Farm Strawberries
Balsamic, Truffle Honey
Cheese course - Divine.  I only ate half because I had too much dairy for the day and that can cause problems for me :)

Sorbet:
Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange
Citrus Gelee, Vanilla Tuille
Light and refreshing, Lemon was the best!!

I also got a cute little Coach clutch in a great peachy color.  Awesome for summer!  (Leather is the traditional gift for 3 years).  Thanks for a wonderful night Lovey!!

Restaurant Review - Kyma

Last night we had dinner at Kyma with James' business partner and his wife.  (Somewhat reluctantly given the dreary day, though it definitely was fun!)

Kyma had an extensive martini list, though I chose to go with the standard Cosmo, made with Ketel One Citroen.  Good, basic martini.  James decided on wine.  I think he got this one: Antonopoulos...it was a light red and pretty good.

For starters we had the spread platter.  Generous portions of 4 spreads with pita bread.  1)yogurt, cucumber, dill 2) roasted red peppers, feta 3) potato, garlic, olive oil 4) grilled eggplant, walnuts.  My favorite was the roasted red pepper and feta, a bit tangy but great.  The tzatziki was great.  Lisa and I shared the seared tuna with wild mushrooms “a la grecque” and zucchini chips with  sheep’s milk cheese “manouri".  The zucchini chips were awesome.  Very thinly sliced, with a very light batter and golden fried.  YUMMY.  The tuna left a bit to be desired.  Definitely not the best tuna I have had.
James and Ricky shared oysters - I did not partake in that - and a spicy lamb pie.  The spicy lamb pie was actually pretty good.

Our waitress (who was great) suggested the lamb main courses.  After all the appetizers, we decided to split 2 entrees.  The girls had the lamb shank and the boys the lamb chops.  Our meals were split in the kitchen and served individually, nice touch.  The shank was extremely tender and the little pasta underneath and the tomato topping was simply wonderful.  The flavors were not too overwhelming.  Perfectly comforting on a rainy day.  The boys enjoyed the lamb chops as well.  Served with Greek Fries and more tzatziki sauce.

Overall a wonderful meal with good company.  Great night!