Midway through our vacation in Zancudo, we decided to go out for dinner at La Puerta Negra. La Puerta Negra is an Italian restaurant owned by Alberto, who originally hails from Genoa. Alberto is a little crazy. You’ll usually find him with a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth and his wild, black hair tied back in a ponytail. Alberto drives a very loud 4-wheeler up and down the beach a couple of times a day. He’s also extremely friendly and fun to talk to. We met Alberto our first day in town because, besides being a restaurant, La Puerta Negra is the closest place in town to buy a six pack of beer.

After a short stroll down the beach at sunset, we arrived at La Puerta Negra. Although it hadn’t looked like much during the day, the restaurant was utterly charming at night. As is the case with the other restaurants in Zancudo, the seating was all outdoors. The dining area consisted of a few cute wooden tables and benches, nicely decorated with white tablecloths and flowers. Funky plants and strings of Christmas lights added to the ambiance.

As I was walking in, I passed by a large basil garden so I couldn’t resist ordering pesto pasta for my dinner. Robert had the pasta arrabiata, which is pasta with spicy red sauce. Both entrees came with a pretty salad and Alberto’s homemade bread. Our waiter didn’t know much English, but spoke an interesting Italian-Spanish hybrid instead. Ordering food from him wasn’t difficult but, asking if we could buy a loaf of bread to take with us proved to be a bit more of a challenge. Somehow, between Robert’s limited Spanish and the small amount of Italian that I could recall from college, we were finally able to explain what we wanted. Our waiter, after brief consultation with somebody in the kitchen, was able to tell us that the bread was “integral” or “not white” (no problem!) and that he would have to get it from his girlfriend’s house next door (hmmm….okay.) After all of this, what we ended up getting was a perfect little loaf of really good grainy bread, just what we were looking for. I used it to make a delicious French Toast the next morning, which I served with peanut butter and honey.

On our last day in town, we had to swing by La Puerta Negra once again to return our empty beer bottles. There, we caught Alberto in the middle of making pasta dough. We hung out with him in the kitchen for a while, sharing ravioli recipes and talking about our trip. Yep, just hanging out in the kitchen at La Puerta Negra. How very Rachel Ray of us.

As you’re supposed to when you’re on vacation, Robert and I did a fair amount of dining out while we were in Costa Rica. Although Zancudo, the town we stayed in, has a lot of restaurants for its size, the heat and humidity basically limited our dining options to whatever was within 5 minutes walking distance from our cabina. Fortunately for us, this included what is widely regarded as the best bar and restaurant in Zancudo: Sol y Mar. We pretty much ate there every day.

Sol y Mar is owned and operated by Rick and Lori from California, and they have done a wonderful job with the place. There is always something fun happening at Sol y Mar. On Saturdays, they host a volleyball tournament, and Sundays, it’s horseshoes. They have a lively BBQ night twice a week and, the week we were leaving, they were planning to throw a big Mardi Gras party. One night, Robert and I sat at the bar with a bunch of people and watched the Costa Rican soccer team beat El Salvador in a tournament to qualify for the Gold Cup (I have since learned that Costa Rica went on to win the Central American crown in this tournament. Hey, didn’t Greece win the 2005 Euro Basketball championship after we had visited there? I’m starting to notice a trend here. If any other countries out there would like to sponsor a trip for us in the hopes of capitalizing on our luck, please let me know.)

Sol y Mar has a great location about 50 meters from the beach. The restaurant is open to the outdoors, covered only by a palm frond roof. This offers a nice, nearly 360 degree view of the surrounding landscape from any table. More importantly, it allows the all to critical breeze to come through. As with everything else in Zancudo, the ambiance at Sol y Mar is incredibly laid-back. Most of the people that hang out there are what Robert and I coined as the “Steely Dan” types: extremely mellow, aging, longish-haired dudes, usually sandaled and shirtless (or in various tropical print shirts.) But, don’t let that scare you off. Plenty of native Costa Ricans and tourists frequent the place as well creating a very friendly, community atmosphere. Everyone gets to know each other so, after a while, it becomes hard to tell the tourists from the residents.

Despite the fact that Zancudo is in a pretty remote location, Sol y Mar boasts an incredible variety of menu options. Lori is a self-proclaimed foodie, and it certainly shows. The menu at Sol y Mar is huge, and there is an equally large number of specials available each night. The fish specials are particularly great. On BBQ night, I had a really delicious grilled fillet of mahi mahi. It was tender and juicy and smoky from the grill. Another night, I bravely ordered the whole fish special (for more on my whole fish saga, click here.) It was deep fried and wonderful (especially topped with Willie’s homemade picante sauce, which is brought to the table at each meal in a bucket along with several other hot sauces.) I devoured every last bit. Breakfasts at Sol y Mar are also great. The breakfast menu features standard American fare as well as huevos rancheros, gallo pinto, and an enormous breakfast burrito. Fresh tropical juices are available as is a fantastic orange, banana and yogurt smoothie. Even if you aren’t hungry, Sol y Mar is a great place to go if you are in need of a cold drink or just want to catch up on the latest local gossip.

After a slow start, I happy to say that I am now doing very well with my New Year’s resolution to dine in a wider variety of restaurants. It’s been nearly a month since Robert and I have been to our regular neighborhood pub! This weekend, we returned to two great places: Dinette and Panos Kleftiko. We had previously been to each of these restaurants only once, and, although I have written about both restaurants before, the food was good enough that I felt a brief update on each was warranted.

On Friday night, we met up with friends for dinner at Dinette. Dinette, if you remember from my last post, is a very charming Capitol Hill restaurant with a focus on European comfort foods and…toast! Yes, they have an entire section of the menu that is devoted to toast (think bruschetta, not plain old breakfast toast.) We chose three toasts for the table to share: smoked salmon with herbed mascarpone, rabbit rillets with apple and celery root slaw, and gorgonzola dulce with walnuts and balsamic glaze. For my dinner, I ordered the ricotta gnocchi in broth with squash, leeks and spinach. This dish is available in two sizes; I went with the smaller size, predicting, correctly, that what they call a small would be what I consider an appropriate portion size. The gnocchi were really light and delicious, and the accompanying broth was equally tasty. Garlicky and comforting, just what I was in the mood for. Robert ordered one of the nightly specials: lamb shepherd’s pie topped with potato and celery root puree. Heather ordered a butter lettuce salad with watermelon radishes and preserved lemon dressing, another dish offered in two sizes. She ordered the larger size, since it was to be her entree, and it was possibly the biggest plate of greens I have ever seen. Todd and David shared another one of the specials: “Pork for Two” (it actually had a much better-sounding, French name but I can’t remember what it was.) This dish consisted of Savoy cabbage parcels filled with pork, served in a light tomato sauce with polenta on the side. It looked really yummy. For dessert, we all split the flourless chocolate cake and the Maker’s Mark bananas foster. The food and the service were both excellent. Dinette is quickly becoming one of my neighborhood favorites. Perhaps I will have to add a sixth restaurant to my rotation. To top off the evening, we swung by Chapel for fancy cocktails.

On Saturday, in celebration of a couple of winter birthdays, my family went out to Panos Kleftiko, a tiny Greek tavern on lower Queen Anne Hill. Actually, Panos is not quite as tiny as it once was; they just added a second room so there is now twice the seating! This worked out well for us since it fills up pretty quickly and we were a large group of seven (they don’t accept reservations.) We ordered many of the same appetizers as I had during my last visit: pitas, tzatziki, kopanisti, marinated octopus and Greek sausages. The kopanisti is my favorite. I have a recipe for it, but mine never turns out as good as the one at Panos. Robert and I both had an Athenian salad for our dinner which is like a traditional Greek salad except that it has lettuce and the feta cheese is crumbled rather than sliced. My mom and sister both had the bread salad which was very good. The bread wasn’t soggy nor was it “tear your mouth to shreds” crunchy. My dad, brother and brother-in-law had a prawn entree, a lamb entree and a stuffed chicken entree respectively. I can’t remember the specifics about each but they looked good. The entrees all come with a salad, cooked carrots and a very small side of rice. Our wine choice for the evening was Naoussa Boutari, a favorite of my mom and dad’s. Boutari is one of the most famous wineries in Greece. The Naoussa Boutari wine is based on the indigenous xinomavro (“acid black”) grape. It is described as being a full bodied wine, but I thought it was somewhere more between light and medium bodied. As with most of the Greek wines I’ve tried, it went wonderfully with the food. All of the food at Panos, while a bit heavy on the oil, is very tasty. If you don’t like a lot of garlic, however, you might want to head over to Sushiland next door; Panos definitely doesn’t skimp on the garlic!

In keeping with my New Year’s resolution to try some new restaurants, Robert and I decided to venture out to a little place called Green Leaf. Green Leaf is a Vietnamese restaurant located in the International District. It opened for business just over a year ago and has been getting rave reviews ever since, many hailing it as the best Vietnamese food in Seattle. Mario Batali has already been there even. Needless to say, I was dying to try it. We went with our friend Jason who has been there several times and was able to provide firsthand confirmation of its yumminess.

The restaurant is tiny. It probably only has about 10 tables but, despite its small size, it doesn’t feel cramped at all. I’ve heard that it can get pretty busy, so we decided to go early to avoid the rush. Unlike many of its neighboring restaurants, Green Leaf has quite a bit of ambiance. Bamboo walls, attractive wooden chairs and dim lighting make for a very warm, comfortable atmosphere.

Upon arriving at our table, we were immediately served with menus and big mugs of hot tea. The menu at Green Leaf is a little daunting, especially if you are not familiar with Vietnamese food. There is a lot to choose from. It is somewhat heavy on the meat, but there were several delicious-sounding vegetarian options. They also have a really interesting selection of beverages including egg soda, pickle plum soda and kumquat soda. I stuck with a more mainstream tamarind soda. It was good but a little sweet for my taste.

I had heard wonderful things about the Banh Xeo so I ordered that to share. Banh Xeo is a crispy rice flour and coconut milk pancake filled with bean sprouts and your choice of tofu or pork and shrimp. Accompanying the Banh Xeo is a large plate of lettuce, cilantro and basil. You are meant to wrap pieces of the Banh Xeo with some of the fresh herbs in the lettuce leaves and then dip all of that into a nuoc cham dipping sauce. It was messy but delicious and fun.

Jason ordered a couple of his favorite appetizers: Grilled Beef with “Lop” Leaf and the very unusual Escargot and Pork, which looked essentially like an escargot and pork meatloaf skewered on a piece of lemongrass. Robert decided to play it safe by ordering the Rice Vermicelli with Grilled Pork. For my dinner, I chose the House Special Noodle Soup which was described as a rice noodle soup with shrimp, squid, fish balls, BBQ pork and wontons. I honestly had no idea what to expect so it was quite a thrill when I was served the biggest bowl of soup I had ever before seen. I’ve been out for pho many times and it is always served in oversized bowls but never like this. This was…a trough. But, it was a trough filled with delicious piping hot noodles, seafood and broth. I was also provided with a plate of bean sprouts, sliced jalapeños, herbs and lime wedges for seasoning my soup. It was really yummy but, not surprisingly, I was only able to get about halfway through before I was stuffed full.

One of my favorite things about Vietnamese food is the abundance of fresh herbs and Green Leaf doesn’t disappoint in this area. Plenty of greenery with no wilting in sight. I can see why they have built up such a good reputation. Not only is the food fresh and tasty, but the prices are reasonable and the staff is friendly and helpful. Sure enough, as we were leaving, there was crowd waiting at the door for a table. Green Leaf is located at 418 8th Ave S.

Finally, a beautiful, sunny day in Seattle! Robert and I decided to make the most of this great day by going on a little adventure. Our destination: Coupeville, WA. Coupeville is a tiny town on Whidbey Island. It is known for having one of the more famous glacial erratics around (for the less geologically-inclined, a glacial erratic is an enormous boulder plopped right in middle of nowhere by, you guessed it, a glacier, in this case, the Vashon glacier during the last ice age.) But, Coupeville is probably even more famous for it’s location. This tiny seaside town is situated right on the shores of Penn Cove, home of arguably the best mussels in the country, if not the world. And it is right there in Coupeville that you will find the reason for our day trip, a little restaurant called Toby’s Tavern.

Fancy chefs from all over the world may seek out Penn Cove mussels and turn them into fancy, expensive meals, but nobody does mussels better than Toby’s. Tobys’ mussels are the best. Period. Ironically, these were also the first mussels I ever ate. Eight years ago, Robert and I were passing through Coupeville on a weekend trip to the San Juan islands and decided to stop at Toby’s. I wasn’t too sure I would like mussels. After years of vegetarianism, I had only just begun to add seafood back into my diet and was still squeamish about the idea of shellfish. But, they were amazing and I was hooked from that point on. The only problem was, every time I went out for mussels after that, the mussels were never as good. Robert and I finally decided that we had to return to see if it was just our imagination or if Toby’s really did have the best mussels.

At first glance, Toby’s looks like your typical dive. Although the view of Penn Cove outside is great, inside you are faced with walls covered with giant stuffed animal heads, dozens of baseball hats and other random junk. But, don’t let that scare you off. The waitresses are friendly and the patrons are an easygoing mix of locals and tourists.

I am happy to report that the mussels were perfect, just as I remembered. Tobys’ mussels come in two sizes: one pound and two pounds. One pound is good for two people (although I’m pretty sure I could polish off an entire pound myself.) The cooking broth is extremely simple. It is garlicky but more so in aroma than flavor. A small amount of onion adds sweetness. Mostly, the broth has just a nice clean mussel flavor. The mussels themselves are meaty but very small, not like those gross gigantic ones they usually sell in stores. Most importantly, they are completely fresh tasting. There is something so great about eating seafood and being able to look out the window and see exactly where it came from.

We also had an order of fish and chips, but it was nothing special. Toby’s has other standards such as burgers and a variety of fried appetizers. Their special of the day was mussel chowder which sounded good. Also, in addition to a decent selection of microbrews, they have their own beer, Toby’s Red Parrot Ale.

If you ever find yourself on Whidbey Island, I highly recommend Toby’s. Make a day of it like we did. Head to Toby’s for lunch and then wander around Fort Casey State Park or take a hike through Ebey’s Landing.

Click here to see more photos from our trip»

My New Year’s resolution for 2007 was to make the effort to try some new restaurants. If I’m going to keep this blog interesting, I can’t exactly keep going to the same five restaurants over and over again. I haven’t been doing too well with my goal, though, so I have since amended it to include, not only restaurants that I have never been to, but also restaurants that I have only been to once or twice. Either way, the goal is to break out of the routine.

Since I nearly broke my back Thursday morning slipping on some black ice outside my apartment building, I didn’t feel like walking too far for dinner tonight. Robert and I decided to go up the street to Karam’s Lebanese Cuisine. If you live in Seattle, you may be already familiar with Karam’s from the food stalls at various street fairs. They are the ones with the big banner that reads “There is no such thing as too much sex or garlic.” Their famous garlic sauce is sold in many supermarkets here too. We have only been Karam’s once before even though it’s very close to us. The restaurant has very little atmosphere but I love that the owner, Anis Karam, greets you at the door, takes your order, fills up your drinks and then heads back into the kitchen to start making your meal.

For his dinner, Robert chose the lamb kabob and a Lebanese beer, Almaza. They were out of the bulgur and nut stuffed pumpkin, my first choice, so I ordered the char-grilled salmon and a Lebanese wine, La Dame Blanche du Chateaux Kefraya. The wine was very exotic. I’m pretty terrible at discerning flavors in wine so I’m not sure what made this wine so interesting. Almond? Honey? Even mint, perhaps? Maybe I just think that because those are common Lebanese ingredients. I don’t know. The salmon was tender and had a perfect amount of char as did Robert’s lamb. Both entrees were served over rice and smothered in super-garlic sauce. Also, they both came with pita, hummus and a salad. There was an unfamiliar red spice on everything. I told Robert that, if I had to guess, I thought it was sumac. I’ve never had sumac before but I’ve heard of it. Then, we asked the owner what it was and he said “It’s sumac, a Lebanese spice.” Yes!

I hope you all had a happy and safe New Year’s Eve. Robert and I don’t like to venture out too far on New Year’s Eve; there are way too many crazies out and about for that. We do usually like to go out for a nice meal, though. This year we decided to go to Tango, down on Pike and Boren, for some tapas. It’s close to home and we have been there several times before so it’s nice and familiar.

We started with a bottle of 2001 Finca Valpiedra Reserva. I tend to get overwhelmed by wine lists so I decided to prepare myself with a little bit of advance research. I read up about Rioja wines in my wine book and learned that 2001 was a really good year for this region. That helped narrow things down considerably.  I settled on the Valpiedra wine because of the year and also because the description on the menu sounded intriguing: “rich, voluptuous, intense and spicy with complex silky stone fruit and a sherried finish.” It was so good! I could tell that it was a much better wine than I am used to drinking. The flavors were much more balanced and long-lasting. It felt like it was coating the inside of my mouth, but not with strong tannins, just with really good flavor. It may have been a little heavy for the food we were having, but I figured, with tapas, there are too many flavors happening to worry too much about matching wine.

For our dinner we ordered the following: a couple of “Cheap Dates” (bacon wrapped dates with grilled eggplant), Pan-roasted Green Beans with Harissa, Tequila and Vanilla Cured Salmon, Queso Azul (Valdeon blue cheese souffles with seasonal fruit compote), Croquetas de Papas (fried potato-horseradish balls with smoked tomato jam), and Gambas Picantes (chipotle tiger prawns with a corn and coconut galleta and pumpkin seed pipian sauce.) No one dish in particular stood out as spectacular but they were all really good and, together, added up to an excellent dinner. OK, so maybe the deep-fried potato balls were spectacular but, come on, deep-fried potatoes? That’s like cheating. Of course that’s going to be good. We finished with coffee and Tango’s famous El Diablo. People rave about this dessert online so we had to try it. The El Diablo is a very striking cube of bittersweet chocolate mousse dusted with cocoa and cayenne and served with a tequila caramel sauce and spicy almonds. It was very spicy.  Yum!

The walk home was pleasant.  We only passed a few crazies and they were the mild, entertaining kind not the true freaks (they come out later.) I was way too full of food and wine to bother with the prosecco that I had bought so I just poured a big glass of water and watched the space needle fireworks on TV. I know that sounds really lame, especially since we could have walked a couple of blocks down the street to watch the fireworks in person. But, it was freezing outside! Happy 2007!

Robert and I had lunch today at the Lockspot Cafe down by the Ballard Locks. I really like the Lockspot. It has a very comfortable seaside tavern feel with lots of dark wood, old timers and seafood dishes. They are known for their fish and chips so, of course, that’s what I had to order. It’s always hard for me to resist fried clam strips when I see them on any menu, though. Most people hate them but I have always loved the little nuggets of goodness, even when I was a little kid. But, today I was in the mood for fish and chips. The fish and chips at Lockspot were pretty tasty. Not amazing but definitely good. They stayed crispy to the end and that’s of utmost importance to me. I heard that Totem House, across the street from Lockspot has really good fish and chips too. Another place I would like to try is Sunfish in West Seattle. They supposedly have the best fish and chips in the entire city. What is your favorite spot for fish and chips?

By the way, the photo above was taken with the digital camera that I won at Robert’s company holiday party last night. Finally my blackjack skills paid off. It was casino night followed by an auction and I won enough chips at blackjack to outbid everyone else for the camera. Be prepared for plenty of food photos from now on!

Yesterday, I took the day off work so that I could participate in one of my holiday traditions, a full day of shopping, eating, and Christmas dinner planning with my mom and sister. Before dropping me off at my mom’s in the morning, Robert wanted to swing by Group 2 Motorsports to bring some doughnuts to the guys, one of his own holiday traditions. We stopped by Top Pot Doughnuts and I picked out a dozen for the guys and ordered two unglazed old-fashioneds for Robert and myself. Top Pot is the best doughnut shop ever. They started out in a small shop in my neighborhood, Capitol Hill, and now have a few locations in Seattle, each with it’s own unique atmosphere. I couldn’t wait so I immediately wolfed down my doughnut in the car on the way to the auto shop. It was sweet and crispy and would have gone wonderfully with some coffee if I had been smart enough to order some. Then, while Robert ate doughnuts and discussed new wheels for his car with the guys, I perused the old alfa romeos sprinkled throughout the garage.

After that, it was off to Ballard with the gals for shopping and lunch. Ballard is this really cool neighborhood just outside of Seattle with lots of artists, funky shops, great restaurants, old buildings and a large Scandinavian population. We are planning a Scandinavian dinner for Christmas this year so, of course, we had to check out Ballard’s various Scandinavian delis. For lunch, we went to La Carta de Oaxaca, a hugely popular restaurant that serves authentic Oaxacan dishes. It has a really stylish atmosphere with long, wooden tables (some are communal, an emerging trend here in Seattle) and tons of framed black and white photos of Mexico covering every square inch of the walls. The menu has about 15 choices, all small plates that are great for sharing. We started with warm chips and guacamole and chose 3 different salsas from the salsa bar. Then, we split the tostada de camarones (lime-marinated prawns and avocado on top of a freshly fried corn tortilla), mushroom empanada (spiced mushrooms grilled in a flour tortilla), and the enchilada with red sauce, Oaxaqueno cheese and a fried egg. Everything was very fresh, not too cheesy and very well executed. And, since we had gone for lunch, we didn’t have to deal with the hour-long wait that plagues the dinner crowd.

It was a long day of shopping and trying to figure out just what the heck that is in those jars at the Scandinavian delis so, for dinner, Robert and I decided to take it easy and stay very close to home. We did, however, try a new place in our neighborhood. A couple of blocks from our home is one of those haunted locations where a new restaurant is popping up every six months or so only to close down a couple of months later. Right now, it is a restaurant called Cypress. The menu features casual Mediterranean food and actually has really reasonable prices. Robert had the lamb burger with Greek fries which he enjoyed. I always have to be more complicated so I ordered the calamari appetizer as my main course, a fattoush salad and a glass of retsina. The retsina was a different brand than the one I am used to and it had a much tamer pine flavor. It was more like a very lemony wine. The calamari dish was actually pretty good – calamari sauteed with chickpeas and sundried tomatoes served on top of seared spinach. The fattoush salad could have been better. It had all of the proper ingredients – romaine, cucumber, tomato, scallions, mint and pita croutons – but there were very few pieces of pita in mine and, those that were present, were slimy and chewy rather than crisp. Also, for some reason, it was really hard to eat. It was as if the vegetables were chopped in such a way as to make them both unscoopable and unpierceable. Overall, the food was OK and worth the price but, they may need to make a few improvements if they want to last longer than their predecessors. I will be going back, though, because the polenta fries that are offered with their sandwiches sound quite intriguing.

Robert and I just got back from a quick trip to Vegas! I didn’t win but I didn’t lose too much either and I had a lot of fun playing. We mostly played blackjack at Four Queens because, apparently, grimy tables, mathematically-challenged dealers and obscure ’80′s tunes are our idea of a good time. We’re real high rollers! We didn’t see too many new things since our last visit. We usually stay downtown which doesn’t change nearly as often as the strip. The Golden Nugget, however, is almost done installing a shark tank in the middle of their pool which will give you the illusion that you are swimming around with sharks and other fish. The tank has a clear water slide running right through it which I’m sure the fish are really going to enjoy when it opens.

On to the food. The first night, we ate at Rosemary’s restaurant. Rosemary’s always get rave reviews and high ratings so I was really looking forward to it. It is a 15 minute cab ride west from the strip and is actually located in a strip mall of all places! Once you are inside, however, you would have no idea. The food is eclectic with a strong Southern bent. One thing that I noticed right away was that each menu item comes with a wine suggestion and a beer suggestion. We were given a complimentary amuse bouche to start, a tiny square of mushroom bread pudding with goat cheese. This cracked us up a little because we had just watched the episode of Top Chef where the chefs struggle to create delicious little amuse bouche dishes using items bought from a vending machine. This one tasted better than theirs, I’m sure. We were given two types of rolls, a potato roll and a rosemary-honey roll. Next, the sommelier brought us our wine choice, 2004 Vacheron Sancerre. It was a delicious wine! I love sancerre wines for their clean, crisp flavor and complete lack of oak. For our meals, we both went with Rosemary’s prix fixe dinner which, unlike at most restaurants, allowed you to simply select any three items from the main menu. For our appetizers, Robert had the salmon tartar with saffron sauce and I had Hugo’s Texas BBQ shrimp with maytag blue cheese slaw, Rosemary’s signature appetizer. Then, we each had a green salad with onion vinaigrette and rosemary crackers. My entree choice was the Halibut Linquist: halibut with a buttermilk onion crust, chive muscadet butter sauce, garlic spinach and topped with a tower of crisp onion rings. Robert had the crispy skin striped bass over andouille, rock shrimp and fingerling potato hash with a creole sauce and cornmeal hush puppies. He also ordered the suggested beer, Maudite, a strong, red beer from Quebec. It went wonderfully with the creole sauce. We were too full for dessert but they gave us a couple of little sweets to end our meal anyway. There was a peanut butter and rice krispy ball, a lemon square and a chocolate ganache ball.

It was a really great dining experience overall. One thing that Robert and I rarely get in Seattle is great service in restaurants. As is the case with most restaurants in Las Vegas, the waiting “team” at Rosemary’s had their act together. Dishes were served with perfect synchronization, wine glasses were refilled promptly and we got our check right away. I really recommend Rosemary’s, although the cab ride there and back certainly adds to the bill. Fortunately for me, Wednesdays are ladies night so my meal was half off!

The next evening, we went out for tapas at Firefly restaurant on Paradise road. This place had also come highly recommended and was supposedly very popular with the locals. It was only after I had made reservations that I learned that it had been featured on Rachel Ray’s $40 a day (I just needed to make it clear that that is not why I chose to go there.) Upon arrival, it seemed just like the kind of place that Rachel Ray would like, very loud and crowded and kind of zany. We shared a pitcher of sangria which, as the menu claimed, was marinated for 3 days. It was pretty tasty. Then we ordered a plethora of tapas. Most were pretty standard. The shrimp ceviche was delicious, very limey and served with crisp corn chips. The marinated olives and the clams were also good. Other than that, I don’t think it was worth all the hype. On the way back, our hilarious cabbie recommended Battista’s Hole in the Wall so we might need to check that out next time we go. I hear they have free wine! Or, if I finally win that million dollars, we will go out for caviar and premium vodka at Red Square!