Patrick and I finally found the time to take ourselves out to our anniversary dinner. For those of you wondering how long Patrick has put up with me, you need only subtract 2000 from the current year. And yes, that works out to be 56 years in straight years.Anyway, after checking out the monthly menus for Elements and R'Bistro, we decided to go with Oakley's Bistro. Probably the best Chef in the city, Steven Oakley was the chef of Something Different during its heyday.
So I had the butternut squash soup, served in a nice metal charlotte mold, then the winter vegetables (seven vegetable lasagna, mushroom gateau, spinach feta strudel, and a lentil ratatouille fritter.) Patrick had a pork bacon kind of app followed by lamb 2 ways. Dessert was a pass for me, but Patrick had the creme brulee - although I did have the cheese board.
Overall I think the meal was very good - even though the entree was a bit like a sampler appetizer platter from Trader Joe's and the cheese was a bit uninspiring - come on, show the cheese a little love. The only other annoying thing was that the creativity of the garnish for EVERYTHING was a sprig of pea sprouts. I like pea sprouts, don't get me wrong, but, dude, just because you got a deal on them - doesn't mean they have to be on everything - remember parsley in the 1970's?
Wine selection was very good - lots of wines by the glass selections, so you can explore wines. Service was exceptional, although they're still in a bit of a rush sometimes - but we only had to tell the server once to chill, and things were much slower.
Bottom line: it's a recommended place, especially if you can nab the chef's table with some friends for a special occasion.
