Friday, April 15, 2011

On Eating Out Only Twice A Week

This week, I only ate out twice [so far], including lunches.

That's pretty impressive for a girl like me.

But, because I am all about the experience and living life to the fullest and getting the most bang for my buck, I made sure they were both

a) new places
b) with fun people
c) good food
d) healthy[ish] food

I think I succeeded, but I'll let you be the judge.

1. When? Tuesday
Where? Hubbard Inn
Who? Laura


Inspired by Ernest Hemingway. With lotsofbooksandart and (gasp!) communal seating.

[Which, I incidentally enjoy. I realize this is a huge debate in the foodie world right now, what with all the communal food joints popping up, but I think it's kind of fun to be close to strangers, semi-eavesdropping on their conversations yet still managing to be fully engaged in your own. Which we were.]


My scallops. Yum. Scallops are my new favorite restaurant food - hard to prepare myself, yet amazingly delicious when prepared well. Plus the bacon-wrapped dates in the corner there.


2. When? Thursday
Where? Bite Cafe
Who? Heather


 Bite Cafe is a part of Empty Bottle that just re-opened with a new look and feel a few weeks ago [with a feature in the RedEye today, nonetheless. How apropo]. I do have a funny story about our arrival at the restaurant:

This is, in fact, a part of Empty Bottle. The menu is, in fact, on the Empty Bottle's website. So Heather and I, planning on dining on this Gaga-favored establishment, went into where? The Empty Bottle. We wandered around the Empty Bottle [which, if you've ever attended a concert there, as I have, it is a cavernous space] for a while, nobody asking to help  us, or to ask us why we were wandering around this location at 6 p.m. on a Thursday. We couldn't find Bite Cafe and decided NOT to try opening random doors, so rather than ask for directions, we decided to try somewhere else.

So we walked proudly out the door, turned the corner, and saw: Bite Cafe.


Sigh. But we made it. And it's precious inside. Adorable teal chairs, with a chalkboard detailing the specials, and a pretty paper menu. The service was also excellent. 
(P.S. That's me in the above photo. Just so you know I'm there too, not just eating food.)


The meal? Pesto with pistachios. Trying to avoid re-aggravating my recent bout with heartburn (pleasant, I know), I still went without the oven-cooked tomatoes, which I'm sure would have been delicious. And, without the tomatoes, it was still pretty good. A HUGE helping of pasta.


And, because I haven't had dessert in a while, mostly because I'm trying to eat healthily and also because I gave up chocolate fo lent, I had some dessert. Butterscotch pot de creme. Boy, was that delicious.

I would go back just for the pot de creme.

And that,  my friends, was Ashley's eating out adventures of the week.

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