Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar

Daniel and I are in a season of life where date nights are hard to come by... our last official date was in March, which is a far cry from the year we intentionally went on more than 52 dates. This is partially because we have not committed to finding a reliable babysitter, and partially due to Daniel's work schedule. 

I know there will come a time when we will date more consistently again, but for now we will continue to make due with family date nights and be grateful for the evenings we can slip away, just the two of us.

Thanks to Daniel's dad and his wife, Friday night we had the opportunity to go on an actual date. While our boys enjoyed pizza with grandparents we went to the Rock Creek Outlet to shop without distractions, and then grabbed a bite to eat across the street at the Boathouse Rotisserie & Raw Bar.

We arrived around 6:30 and had a 20-minute wait. The first available table was on the porch overlooking the water. which was perfect for us. 

Porch fans and misters kept us cool even though it was a hot summer evening. We had a view of the Bluff District and North Shore with the sun dipping behind Signal Mountain in the background. 

Daniel tried the Trout Almandine while I had the Extra Large Grilled Shrimp (they were really huge!). Both were served with a side of olive fries (fried in olive oil) and a cabbage slaw in sesame oil. 

We finished up by sharing a slice of decadent Key Lime Pie. It was all delicious. 

With good food and a lovely view we didn't want to leave, but we had two little boys waiting at home.

We love our boys, but every once in awhile it's nice to enjoy a meal without having to discuss things like Paw Patrol...

 

Birthday Dinner: Public House

I am woefully behind on my blogging. So many happenings in the last two months of the year!

So my 35th birthday was last month. On the day of, a good friend asked if I was doing anything special. The truth of the matter is that a Wednesday birthday (at any age) is tough. But especially when you are a grown-up with a spouse who is at the very end of a very long (two-year) project and you have littles at home. I'm not complaining, but that is how the dice fell this year.

I literally spent my birthday "dinner" in the drive through at Starbucks while my boys napped in the back before church.

My mom is the master at assigning different dates for different events (her birthday and anniversary are on the same day, so she has always chosen a separate day to celebrate), so this year we did the same... It just took over a month to find a date we had a sitter available AND that Daniel didn't have to work.

So a week ago (or two, I don't even know the days any more), Daniel's mom was in town for Isaac's baby dedication and we took the opportunity to sneak off for a dinner date.

During Thanksgiving, Daniel had met his sisters for a Collective Soul concert at Track 29 and before the concert they ate at Public House. It was so good, he knew he had to take me back.

Since it was a Saturday, we called ahead to make a reservation. When we arrived we were surprised that the place wasn't overly crowded. They started to seat us at a tiny table right by the door, but we requested a booth further in the restaurant (thankfully they granted our request).

We enjoyed a solid two hours of talking, just the two of us. And I don't think we talked about kids (if we did, it was minimal). It was such a nice, and much needed, change of pace.

The food was glorious. My youngest sister-in-law said it best when she said the Peanut Butter Pie was like a high five in your mouth. All of the food was truly a high five your mouth, in the best possible way.

We started our meal with an appetizer of fried pickles and pimento cheese with crostini. Daniel would not typically eat (much less try pimento cheese), but he really liked it. The crostini was charred perfectly and had an amazing smoky flavor.

For our main dishes, Daniel chose the salmon with rice pilaf while I had the fried chicken with mac-n-cheese. All of it was amazing. The salmon had a smoky flavor that I don't think I could copy at home and the fried chicken is probably the best that I have had.

To top the meal off we chose the Peanut Butter Pie with coffee for me (decaf). A serious high five in the mouth! The food was so good and the restaurant didn't feel pretentious, a plus in our books. We would give it 5/5 stars.