Happy Anniversary, Pook!
Last night, Josh and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We went up to the Aviara in Carlsbad, where Josh had sung Christmas carols last holiday season, and they had given him a $50 gift certificate for dining. So we went to the California Bistro, the slightly less scarily expensive restaurant at the Aviara (as compared to Vivace). I got Halibut, Josh got Beef Medallions. The food was artfully arranged in portions ranging from smallish to miniscule. For example, my halibut was listed as coming with "chorizo" in addition to peas and other veggies. I thought that was an odd choice for a fish dish, so I was curious to see how they pulled it off. When my plate arrived, I discovered that there was a single, thinly shaved, 1 inch diameter slice of spicy chorizo sausage, fried lightly and stuck standing up in my mashed potatoes. It was yummy, but the quantity provided didn't seem to warrant inclusion in the menu text as one of the meal's main ingredients. There was more decorative parsley on the plate than there was chorizo. The best part of the meal was dessert, which Josh had arranged without my knowledge. It was a deliciously moist slice of chocolate cake with a strawberry cream sauce and fresh berries on the side. And a little chocolate piece saying "Happy Anniversary" on the top. Yum! Everything was tasty and well made, but it wasn't fabulous, blow-me-away type food, which is what I would have expected at the prices they were charging. It was a fantastic $20 meal. It would have been a seriously depressing $70 meal if we hadn't had the gift certificate. Nevertheless, it was a lovely evening and we put the "free money" to good use.