Ah, Valentines Day...words that come to mind are: red, hearts, romance, chocolate, amateur night. No, not your stripping debut, but your neighbors at the next table! It's like the EXACT people for whom the holiday is precious are those that cram into the deuce next to you purring and clinking glasses.
I'm not into that - nor am I into gifts of red lingerie (in February) or heart shaped boxes of chocolate or single red roses encased in plastic. Snobby? Maybe, but I prefer to have my honey at home and then treat ourselves to a fantastic meal several days post-V-day.
So, this year on 2/16 C and I bundled ourselves up and out to local fave, No. 9 Park. It's always exciting to go there. You pull up (or walk up if it's not f-ing freezing) to this non-descript little door in this quiet area of Boston, basking in the glow of the state house. It's immediatly warm and vibrant inside, lots of ambient noise of drinking and dining and laughter. We soaked up the chatter for a half hour or so as we were early for our reservation and sampled some of their famous cocktails - a pear martini for me (can't resist Belle de Brillet) and a bourbon spritzer type thing for C.
Promptly on time, the hostess seated us at a lovely window table. It is the EXACT table at which I've sat the two other times I've been here - uncanny. Anyway, we perused the menu and made our selections - I've outlined the choices below:
Nantucket Bay Scallops - sweet potato dumplings and melted vidalia onion
Prune stuffed Gnocchi - seared fois gras in a vin santo buerre blanc sauce
Roasted Pouissin (two ways) - confit and sliced over carrot puree with escargot
Sliced Rib-eye with potato galette and Swiss chard
We generally share everything, so we end up with two small courses and an entree. On this particular occasion, the ever-generous Jessica Kinney granted us a lovely amuse bouche and mid-course that were absolutely lovely (tuna tartar and comte risotto).
Check it out for yourself, just don't go on Valentines Day!
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