icarus

For Tony's birthday this year, I had originally made plans to take him out to The Beehive for dinner. But alas, we ended up going there with Mike and Erin one night (read about it here) so I had to come up with plan B. I ended up picking Icarus, which is also in the South End (a.k.a. our new favorite hangout for some reason) and so we had a nice dinner there on Sunday night.

Unfortunately -- and I'll explain why in a second -- the restaurant was celebrating Restaurant Week. Normally I like to go and try out new places during Restaurant Week but my hubby does not, so that was one downer. Secondly, I had looked at their non-Restaurant Week menu ahead of time and found something I could eat, but they decided they weren't going to offer their regular menu items that night. Rats. (Note to folks who might get a sense that I'm sounding really snobby and picky here: most of the time, restaurants let you order from their regular menus despite the Restaurant Week shindig thingie so it wasn't like I was a martian with three heads when I asked our waiter for the regular menu.)

So the way it works with Restaurant Week is that there's a fixed price for a three course meal ($33.08) and you get to pick one appetizer, one entree, and one dessert from their special menu. We decided to also do the half glass wine pairing which was a little extra. It was a neat way to try different kinds of wines, too.

We both ordered the Farm Field Salad with Orange and Sherry Vinaigrette which was paired with a really delicious Pinot Grigio called "Altanuta" from Italy. We were both surprised at how large the salad was because, let's be honest here folks, most portions during Restaurant Week tend to be on the smaller side. It was a good salad but we both found it to be a little too salty for some reason. I think we enjoyed the wine the most. :)

Tony had the Roasted Chili Glazed Pork Loin with Corn Pudding and Watermelon. It was served with a Shiraz called "Yalumba" from Australia. He thought it was ... interesting. As he said, "It's like it doesn't all necessary go together but it works somehow. I like it, it's just different."

I ordered the Grilled Bluefish and Smoked Shrimp Butter with Roasted Poblano Pepper, Corn, and Quinoa Pilaf but of course, I had to do without the pepper and corn part for obvious reasons. Instead, I got three little roasted potatoes as a substitute. My dish was served with a Cannonau called "Santa Maria La Palma" from Sardinia that was quite good. The dish was really good, too, but again a little on the salty side.

The best part, of course, was the dessert! We both had the Decadent Chocolate Cake. Yum! The whipped cream on it wasn't the typically overly sweet kind so it made it even more delicious. We had a little glass of Banyuls called "M. Choupetier" from Languedoc, France that was a perfect compliment to it.

Afterwards, we went for drinks at Sibling Rivalry and had a fun time people watching.

Happy Birthday, Tony!!