A modest celebration with Kevin

Last night, my boy and I had a lot to celebrate, but as one of the things we were celebrating was the fact that we are likely buying a house that is slightly more expensive than we can comfortably afford, we were torn. The other thing we were celebrating was me receiving an offer for my dream job today -- a huge, huge deal. What to do?

So, we decided to cheap out on a fabulous place instead of heading to a loud, unwashed masses kind of place. First, we tried to eat at the bar at Shaun's -- everyone else raves about it, but the one time we went it wasn't that great. I'm hoping it was just an off night for them. Well, turns out that Shaun's is closed on Tuesdays, apparently, so we headed for Rathbun's, the original, one of our mainstays.

We chose to sit on the patio, rather than at the bar. Their patio is both covered and enclosed on the sides, so that it was quite comfortable in the balmy December weather even with the heaters off. It's also quite a bit quieter and less claustrophobic than the inside. Two thumbs up on the patio, Kevin!

We came with the intention of sharing small plates, but there are so many delicious and decadent things to choose from. What to have? We settled on:

First course: Garlic Fennel Soup -- this soup was creamy, flavorful with just a hint of fennel flavor (I am not a licorice person, so subtle fennel=good fennel in my book). Extremely delicious. We were soaking up every last drop with our bread.

Second course: Eggplant Steak Fries with Confectioner's Sugar Tabasco Dipping Sauce and Krog Street Mozzarella with Hot Cotto and Black Olive Vinaigrette. We had one order of each of these. The eggplant fries were divine, as usual. These fries never fail to make the boy say "But I don't like eggplant!" The dipping sauce sounds scary, but the combination of the sweet spiciness and the crisp eggplant is genius. The server had the kitchen split the cheese dish into two portions which were beautifully plated. The cotto (which is sort of like salami) was a nice complex, not-too-spicy flavor that complemented the mild, creamy mozzarella well, and the black olive vinaigrette pulled it all together by adding a little moisture to both loosen up the cotto and hold it all together.

Third course: Dark Chocolate Flourless Cake with Coffee Ice Cream and Raspberries. This was beautifully presented, and quite tasty. Moist, not-too-rich. I only had a bite of it, but the boy, the sweets connoisseur in the family, was very happy.

Libations: A bottle of Vina Robles, Syrah, Paso Robles, California ‘03. This wine was in the cheapest category of reds on the menu, but it was utterly respectable, especially once it opened up and lost its tartness. Luckily, it dropped the tart note while we were eating the creamy, creamy soup, which stood up to the wine just fine in its pre-mellowing moments.

Initially, I wasn't sure if what we had ordered was going to be enough food, but we were thoroughly satisfied, and even left 3 or 4 eggplant fries orphaned on the plate. We were also very pleasantly surprised by how inexpensively we were able to have such a satisfying, delicious meal with such wonderful service and atmosphere. The bill came to about $55; so for under $70 (including tips for the server and the valet), we achieved our celebratory goal at one of our favorite restaurants in town. I think we've spent more at the Vortex before. Wow! Thanks, Kev.