Valentine’s Day (and post-Valentine’s Day)

As much of a Hallmark holiday as Valentine’s Day is, it is a fantastic opportunity to capitalize on the tasty fixed menus that fancy restaurants put on for all of the hungry, happy, romantic couples. So this year my best eating buddy and I ~~fed our fat faces~~ indulgent in 5 courses of the finer things in life via the Union Restaurant. The menu that twisted our arms with was as follows-

Of course, words do not do the same justice as pictures. Thus, I was that person snapping photos of each and every course along the way. Enjoy the vegetarian prix fixe menu below. Aside from the 4th course, the carnivore menu looked impressively similar-

pre-course

Hawley wine and grandma’s cheese curds

1st course

charred avocado & yellow beet tartare with frozen red beets, citrus kosho & toasted coriander with cornbread

2nd course

slow-roasted sunchoke confit with brown butter, cashews & apricot preserves

3rd course

fried organic egg with heirloom corn grits, black truffle, frisée & mimolette fondue

(Or the carnivorous version and its ecstatic recipient. To be fair, how often do you get to eat both liver AND bone marrow in one meal?!?!)

grilled beef rib eye with smoked bone marrow, lobster, red wine & velvet pioppini mushrooms

4th course

swiss chard & ricotta dumplings with roasted garlic, red wine & velvet pioppini mushrooms

intermezzo

hibiscus sherbet with crispy meringue

5th course

blood orange mousse with caramel-almond crumble & milk chocolate ice cream

(This one took more to figure out than either of us will ever admit.)

blood orange mousse with black pepper caramel cake & milk chocolate ice cream

And with that, it was time to waddle home and slip into the beloved food coma! 🙂

While this should have been sufficient indulgence for 24 hours, tonight Samia and I went to town on her left overs from last night. To be fair, I think any sane person would have given in-