A restaurant we are going to this evening has Pacu Ribs on the menu...

I wish this restaurant was closer!

They didn't have the Pacu Ribs last night but we were able to find *something* else on the menu for dinner.

When we were seated I asked for the dessert menu with the dinner menu. The maitre d’ was hesitant and said they like to present the dessert menu as a surprise after the dinner. I said that I wasn't a huge fan of surprises and I prefer to decide on my whole dining experience before ordering the way you have your tasting menu presented.

We each ordered a First and second Plate so we would have room for dessert. Our server insisted we wouldn't have enough to eat because these are small servings.

I started with the Tuna Carpaccio. A thin 5x7inch rectangle of tuna that was liberally sprinkled with diced peaches, olives jicama, red onion, and Serrano chilies. Perfect 1/8-inch dice! Waffle cut purple potatoes that tasted like they were fried in butter and salted. Excellent!

Ed had the Serrano Ham. A very generous serving of ham with Miti Blue Cheese panacotta. Miti is a goat milk blue from Spain maybe a little more pungent than Gorgonzola. Peach cardamom jam was delightful. He couldn't finish the ham so I had to help. I'm very unselfish like that.

My second plate was the Lemongrass Ginger Mojo Grilled Shrimp. I don't grill shrimp because if they have the grill marks they are usually overdone and if they aren't overcooked they don't have the marks. Three perfectly grilled jumbo shrimp. The pickled watermelon was tangy like a bread and butter pickle and juicy like fresh watermelon. The crispy pork belly was, thankfully, only about 2x3 inches. It was so succulent that I could have eaten three times that much. (Tampa General Hospital has an excellent cardio unit and is very close to the restaurant) The bread basket had a wonderful onion/rosemary focaccia that was great to soak up the remaining chili lime vinaigrette.

Ed had the Fried Green Tomatoes with Jumbo Lump Crab which he loved but couldn't finish. Once again I came to the rescue. Please hold your applause...I'm blushing.

With dinner we shared a half bottle of Domaine Serene 'Cote Sud' 2005 Chardonnay from Willamette Valley, Oregon. I highly recommend this wine if you can find it. I can't find it locally online.

Dessert for me was Dulce de Leche Pot de Creme with Croquantine flourless cake, and toasted macadamia nut ice cream. Perfect ending that was gone in a flash.

Milk Chocolate "Brownie" with bruleed bananas, and crunchy peanut butter ice cream for Ed. Although he thought it was good the "brownie" had quote marks for a reason. It was more fudge than brownie and it was so big he couldn't finish it. I was too full to be charitable so the brownie had to be left behind. However he had no problems devouring the bananas and ice cream.

We must have been seated at a reserved table because the server came over with two wine glasses and a champagne flute for each of us. He said he would open and pour the champagne and decant the two red wines. Three bottles of wine for two people? Wrong table and two couples showed up for that feast.

 
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