Great Dinner: The Wine Bar & Bistro

It had been a while since I had a meal at the Wine Bar & Bistro (like, a looong while.  The last time, I think, was with PDA and his parents before the Built show two and a half years ago.  A long while) so this weekend when Josh and I were trying to figure out where to have our anniversary dinner it popped right into my head.  While Justin's is our go-to place, we were looking for something a little more...romantical and fresh for this occasion.  (Plus I had just been to Justin's with my mom for brunch the day before.  Hehehe.) 

As we stepped down into the restaurant I heard the familiar warble of Gulag Orkestar and pointed it out as being a good omen.  It was.  We were seated in a cozy, private booth and catered to like high-rollers throughout the whole meal, which was excellent all around.  (Forgive me in advance for the menu paraphrasing I'll be doing, but I forgot to grab one on the way out for reference.)  Appetizers were shared: traditional garlicky escargots, which I'd never had before and seriously enjoyed, and the Bistro's, "quartet," that included hummus, basil eggplant puree, walnut pesto and an artichoke and white bean spread.  I was in heaven; no one flavor overpowered the others (even the garlic, surprisingly) and it was fun to go back and forth between the spreads, enjoying their differences.  The service was well-timed, with entrees arriving within minutes of our appetizer plates being removed (just enough time for us to decide on more wine, which doesn't take long.)  Josh had a gorgeous lamb shank with mashed potatoes and I chose a vegetable and Swiss cheese, "tart," (a quiche in my faux-foodie world) with a lovely delicate salad of baby and bitter greens tossed with a champagne vinaigrette.  Everything was cooked, dressed and portioned perfectly, and the prices weren't exorbitent either.  A bottle of wine, two additional glasses, two apps and two entrees came out just over $100.  It was definitely the, "special," dining experience we were looking for the celebrate (the date we arbitrarily chose based on when we moved in together because neither of us could pinpoint) our anniversary.

The ambience at the Wine Bar & Bistro is such that this was the only (barely) decent photo I managed to take.  I was rearranging candles to the point where Josh whispered something about, "getting in trouble," so I stopped trying for a better shot.  :)