Spoon - Romanticle Valentines Dinner

Alright, I have a confession to make: we actually went to dinner on February 15th. That's because neither of us remembers Valentines day is coming and by the time we remember, all restaurants are booked solid. But hey, at least we BOTH forget, that alleviates guilt on either party. Except he did get me some Godiva coffee and chocolate so, I guess.. I'm still guilty? 

Anyways

For our V-day dinner, we went to Spoon and had their Valentines day prix fixe which was absolutely amazing.  

We started off with some drinks, I ordered:

the French Manhattan 

12

Old Fitzgerald 1849 Bourbon + Marie Brizzard orange Curacao + 

house dry vermouth + Angostura bitters

Mike ordered:

 The Old Cuban: 

12 Appleton Estate rum + lime juice + 

mint + Angostura bitters + sparkling wine

While I seriously enjoyed that Manhattan, I tried Mike's drink and it was so good that I ordered one of those after I'd finished my first drink! Happy Valentines day to me! 

Next up was this amazing lobster tail over a mac-n-cheese style pasta. I really wish this was a gigantic bowl... I really am not doing this meal justice in description but I just plum can't remember, so here are the ingredients...

butter poached Maine lobster: 

“baby shells + clam sauce,”

sopressata, olive and parmesan bread crumbs,

Laudemio extra virgin olive oil

Mike ordered their wings which came with a hot, poblano sauce and potato wedges. My favorite part was also that it had sauteed greens ontop- yum yum!!

crispy smoked chicken wings: 

southwest spice rub, poblano hot sauce

duck fat fried fingerling potatoes,

braised collard greens,

chili + lime aioli

For our main entree, I ordered the Duo of beef which came with steak and also braised beef cheeks over roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes made with duck fat. 

I'm fairly certain my favorite part of the cow now is their cheeks... so tender and melt in your mouth...

duo of beef: 

grilled rib eye, braised cheek,

loaded smashed potatoes,

baby vegetables, Gorgonzola,

bacon + arugula salad, natural reduction

Mikey-doodle ordered the cod fillet over potato risotto and crab cakes. The cod was so tender and well made, as was the potato risotto which I thought was an innovative idea. 

Alaskan black cod + crab cakes: 

potato risotto, Brussels sprout leaves,

roasted beets, burnt orange aioli,

root vegetable slaw

And then this happened, and the world made sense....

They called it their "Spoon Bar"

I call it heaven. 

spoon bar 

Bailey’s cocoa bar, milk chocolate nougat frozen mousse,

semi-sweet chocolate pudding

That amazing dinner plus all the delicious Godiva treats my loving husband got me made for a wonderful Valentines Day indeed.

Yum, yum...and amen. 

Kaya: Restaurant of the Gods

So again, my husband and I went to our absolute favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh. It's called Kaya and it's owned by the Big Burrito Restaurant Group. What I dig about this restaurant group is how creative they get with their different restaurants and I know for sure that at Kaya they try to purchase as locally as they can. Being located in the strip district, that doesn't make that too hard to get great produce and I'm glad they make that extra effort! I have seriously never went to this restaurant and left disappointed, ever.

To start off, our beverages: 

I got a Dark & Stormy which has: Gosling’ Black Seal Rum, Fever Tree 

ginger beer, lime

He got a Brooklyn winter ale 

I absolutely loved my drink. I love, love ginger and this really hit the spot, it was crisp and refreshing in flavor and not too sweet which is how I like it. 

For the appetizer: Jamaican jerk wings with cilantro cream sauce

First off, if you are sensitive to spicy food - these may not be for you. My mouth was numb for 10 minutes after eating these and I think the waiter refilled my water glass twice. My husband, who could probably drink a vat of acid and be alright, said he felt a slight "tingle". As for flavor, WOW. Amazing, just what I wanted. Jamaican jerk is a completely different animal than Caribbean jerk: it's citrusy and not full of sugar like you typically think of jerk rubs. As for the cilantro cream sauce, I would love to bathe in that sauce. It's life altering. 

And for entrees: 

I got Kaya Burger with pickles, avocado, bacon, tomato, 

Chihuahua cheese, a sunny-side-up egg, &       

Kaya sauce. 

I swapped my chips for a field greens salad with: lime cilantro vinaigrette and pepitas

He got their famous fish tacos with avocado, spicy crème fraîche, 

cabbage slaw, cilantro, and Reyna’s tortillas

This was, unarguably, the best burger I've ever ordered. The burger was cooked to a perfect medium, very juicy and fresh. The bacon was so.. freaking... good. It was crispy and melt in your mouth. This was also the first time I've had a burger with an egg ontop and now I can see why there's a crazy about it. Holy crap. Also- I have to say. I don't know what the dressing is exactly, (cilantro and lime obviously) but it is of the gods. I seriously want to blackmail them for the recipe. 

I didn't get to try the husband's meal this time, but I've had it before and those fish tacos are famous for a reason.. Well seasoned, lightly breaded and fried fish with a cool, crispy slaw. Mmm mm good. I'll be getting that next time. 

So ANYWAYS that's what we did on Saturday to get out of the house. It was worth every single calorie. Amen. 

Mad Mex

Mike and I went to dinner at Mad Mex tonight and I was super impressed with their vegetarian options!! They have a vegetarian option for every section on the menu (soup, taco, quesadillas, taco, burrito, etc.) They even had a vegetarian appetizer- seitan wings!!! I've never had seitan wings out at a restaurant so I had to give them a try. They delicious! I like that they let you pick from any of the sauces that go on the regular wings.  I wish the sauce was dairy free but I don't imagine too many people order that so it wouldn't be cost effective for them. They do offer Daiya cheese for their entrees though! COOL! 

Mikey ordered the Carnitas Burrito which was pork slow roasted in garlic, cilantro, chipotles and Dos Equis with roasted chillis inside, it also had a side of blue cornbread and pico de gallo. 

Now I don't even get what all was in this blue cornbread, but it was so.. amazing. It just melted in your mouth and was so wonderful and delicious. I wonder if I could just get that as a side next time- it was a winner for sure!! 

I feel like I haven't been doing a bang up job on protein lately, so I ordered the grilled fish tacos, it's my standard meal when I go.  I have to be honest though, the beans and rice were the best part! I think I'll have to try the vegetable quesadillas next time!  Oh well! 

Oh, I also ordered a Big Azz Margarita which was half price during happy hour. It was 22oz... bad choice. Oh well! 

Ole! 

Foodie's Dream Saturday Part 2

After the expo, we headed over to the Strip District and walked outside and viewed all the outdoor markets/vendors. I bought some dates and prunes from an italian grocer- love me some fiber!

We spent maybe 30-45 minutes doing that before the men headed down to the area and we headed to an outdoor beerfest in the strip (I totally forget the name of it, oh well).  They had East End Brewing Co beer there so I was all set! That is, until they ran out- boo!!

I also had some egg rolls and a veggie dog from the Franktuary truck- saurkraut & mustard = perfection. I snarfed it down too fast and forgot to take a pic- oopsie!

After a beer or two, or three, or four.. Mike wanted to head out to see some Improv shows.  We had an hour or two to kill before the shows started so we stopped at my ABSOLUTE MOST FAVORITE PLACE ON EARTH!!!! 

Can you guess? Sure you can!

Kaya 

I started the meal of right with one of their delicious Caribbean inspired beverages, this one's called the Lava Lover. It has Malibu rum, coconut milk, pineapple juice & grenadine in it and was super divine. 

Yucatan Bean Dip = heavenly 

Kaya chips!! 

Aren't they super pretty? Yum yum!

I totally forgot the dinner menu gives you three gigantic jerk tofu tacos and I immediately regretted getting an appetizer. But they were soo delicious I made my way through (for the most part). 

So yummy!! 

Mike got the Kaya burger and wow does this bad boy look amazing... A burger with pickles, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, chihuahua cheese, a sunny side up egg, and Kaya's secret sauce.  He really dug it. 

I was being super indulgent today clearly, and ordered another beverage for dessert, the Caipirinha, a mixture of muddled lime, sugar, and Cachaça. Apparently it's the national drink of Brazil? Who knows but it was fantastic! 

After a wonderful, hilarious show by The Lupones at the Steel City Improv Theater, I was super tired and wanted nothing more than my nice, cool bed with a fan blowing on me. I at least had the forethought to chug not one, but three glasses of water. Woohoo for avoiding hangovers!!!  

I was so stuffed and felt so piggish I'm hoping to show some restraint and modesty in my food for the next week. Oye vey! 

............Another commercial for Magic Mike came on and I think I went brain dead there for a minute or so. 

Saturday in the Strip

One of the things I actually enjoy about Pittsburgh is the Strip District, located between Bloomfield and Downtown. It's a glorious array of fresh produce, specialty herbs, spices, salts, oils, fresh baked breads, as well as fresh seafood, meats, and poultry if you're interested. I don't go often because I'm not much of a crowd person,  but every once in a while I get the urge to go down and score some fun new cooking items! Last time I got Himalayan salt and some dark cherry flavored balsamic vinegar, which I still use and love.

Gorgeous view from the strip- Pittsburgh has an amazing skyline

For breakfast I made some pancakes from my sample packs of Pamela's gluten free pancake mix (sooo good, if you have gluten sensitivities, I HIGHLY recommend ANY of Pamela's gluten free products-genius stuff).  They give you the option of using an egg or some egg replacement powder, but I am out of my Ener-G egg mix so a real egg it was. I topped my pancakes with some Earth Balance, some maple syrup and dug in! Washed down with a glass of soy milk, I felt like I was 12 years old again. Yum.

I have to be honest, I was super famished while I was making the pancakes so I had a few crackers and some Sabra hummus... quite a few... and some prunes. If you're going "ewww prunes", don't knock em if you haven't tried em! They're a tasty dried fruit!

We started our day in the Strip at the Public Market, I've always gotta stop here to get my vinegar and olive oil! This time I bought more of the dark cherry balsamic vinegar and some fantastic truffle olive oil. I also bought more salt, this time I chose the smoked alderwood salt- I really loved the smoky earthiness of it, can't wait to use it!

Delicious smokey salt

Cherry Balsamic vinegar and truffle oil

Next we headed up to Smallman St. and went to Wholey's which, as any Pittsburgher knows, is one of the best places to get fresh seafood. I didn't get any seafood, but I did find some yuca root that I have desperately been trying to get my hands on for weeks!!  I found an awesome recipe for yuca root quesadillas that I must try. I also found some vegan concentrated veggie stock and (because there is an annoying 10 dollar minimum) we grabbed two bags of flavored pretzel crisps.

Yuca root... I'll let you know how this goes...

I'm gonna rock these out with some hummus.. oh yea... 

Next we stopped by Penzey's Spices- this store is the mecca of flavor as far as I'm concerned. I couldn't stop smelling all of the herbs and spices, they also have a nice baking section with extracts and baking spices- wow. I chose Sunny Paris, the shallots and dill combination is intoxicating..

Cute lil kitchen! I love the old-fashioned fridge!

A quick stop at Mancini's for a loaf of fresh baked pesto bread was a must! After that I stopped in a local asian market for some more cellophane and udon noodles because Whole Foods is just hurting my wallet too much and it was much cheaper here! I know its probably weird but I love asian markets because I have such fun guessing what the products are since none of the labels are in english.

Here are my scores for the day:

After all that walking and shopping, Mike and I worked up an appetite, and there is absolutely no better place to be than in the Strip District when you're hungry!!

We chose my favorite restaurant of all time: Kaya.

Kaya is this wonderful Caribbean or "island" cuisine restaurant, great atmosphere, great music, great drinks, amazing food... I recommend you go right this second!! They also have some amazing vegetarian options that they really have put alot of energy and creativity in to.

I started the meal off right with a Rum Runner and some bean dip with yucatan chips (no picture, oops!) My entree was my favorite dish, jerk tofu tacos with a side salad. The tofu tacos come served on a grilled tortilla and are topped with avocado, a lime creme sauce, cilantro, and zesty coleslaw. The tofu itself has been marinated in a jerk mixture and then pan-fried so that the outside is crispy and the inside is tender and delicious. While the side salad may seem nothing special, the dressing they use on it is epic, I'm not sure what all is in it and that's probably for the best or I would be replicating it at home and drinking it. They also tossed on some crunchy peppitas for fun! Nom!

Please ignore the finger.. oopsie..

 Mike had pulled pork and banana sandwich with sweet potato fries (which I stole plenty of).

The banana-pork combination was amazing, it was like a more complexly flavored pulled pork with a hint of bananas. I really was surprised how delicious these two items went together! Mike really liked it too, I only got a bite!

Since returning home I've been cleaning up a storm, doing laundry, and doing other house-wifey things. I'm absolutely zonked now and am going to go curl up to an episode of Ghost Whisperer and an evening snack: