The Wedding Dinner
David and I agreed that he'd choose the restaurant for us, Katie, and Megan to go to afterwards, and it would be a surprise to me. Shortly after the ceremony, I found out he'd arranged for us to have dinner at Cafe Juanita
Cafe Juanita's a gorgeous Italian restaurant in Kirkland. We'd been once before, for a birthday, and really enjoyed it.
When I got to the restaurant, I discovered another surprise. David had ordered this gorgeous flower arrangement to be delivered to our table. The flash made the colors a bit odd. I'll upload better pictures of the arrangement soon.
You can also see the trees out the window. One nice thing about Juanita is that the restaurant sits in a fairly wooded area, and has lots of windows. It's especially beautiful in the summer and the fall when the sun is out later in the day.
We decided to split a couple of appetizers between the four of us.
This is the octopus chickpea salad with fingerling potatoes:
The octopus was perfectly tender and sweet.
Here's the fresh mozzarella with fennel and basil fritters (and thanks to Megan for suggesting it):
The mozzarella was soft, with a delicate texture, which contrasted nicely with the crunch of the basil and fennel fritters.
David and I decided to split the heirloom tomato and bread soup.
The tomato flavor was intense, exactly the way I'd hoped it would be. The soup wasn't really that dark--the lighting's just a little weird in the photo.
For entrees, David and Megan both opted for the Wagyu beef with grilled Walla Walla onions.
Very rich, very tender beef.
Katie chose the chicken, which looked great:
My entree was the saddle of lamb with eggplant, tomato, and Greek yogurt dill sauce.
This was fantastic. The lamb was tender and just gamy enough, and the tangy yogurt dill sauce was the perfect foil for it. The eggplant and tomatoes were stacked, with layers of basil pesto in between. Each component was great on its own, and even better in combination.
For dessert, Katie ordered the nectarine-berry cobbler, which also looked fabulous.
David ordered the night's dessert special, a pine nut tart.
He described it as similar to "soft peanut brittle" and that's the best description I could come up with the flavor/texture. The kitchen staff put candles on David's and my desserts, which I thought was cute.
My dessert was the Pralus chocolate souffle with a creme anglais.
This was warm and melty, with a great bittersweet chocolate flavor. Often chocolate desserts at restaurants are way too sweet for my tastes, but this was just exactly right.
And here we are, stuffed to the gills:
When the bill came, we were surprised (and pleased) to find out that David's friend Jennifer had surreptitiously paid for the dinner. Thanks, Jennifer!
Cafe Juanita's a gorgeous Italian restaurant in Kirkland. We'd been once before, for a birthday, and really enjoyed it.
When I got to the restaurant, I discovered another surprise. David had ordered this gorgeous flower arrangement to be delivered to our table. The flash made the colors a bit odd. I'll upload better pictures of the arrangement soon.
You can also see the trees out the window. One nice thing about Juanita is that the restaurant sits in a fairly wooded area, and has lots of windows. It's especially beautiful in the summer and the fall when the sun is out later in the day.
We decided to split a couple of appetizers between the four of us.
This is the octopus chickpea salad with fingerling potatoes:
The octopus was perfectly tender and sweet.
Here's the fresh mozzarella with fennel and basil fritters (and thanks to Megan for suggesting it):
The mozzarella was soft, with a delicate texture, which contrasted nicely with the crunch of the basil and fennel fritters.
David and I decided to split the heirloom tomato and bread soup.
The tomato flavor was intense, exactly the way I'd hoped it would be. The soup wasn't really that dark--the lighting's just a little weird in the photo.
For entrees, David and Megan both opted for the Wagyu beef with grilled Walla Walla onions.
Very rich, very tender beef.
Katie chose the chicken, which looked great:
My entree was the saddle of lamb with eggplant, tomato, and Greek yogurt dill sauce.
This was fantastic. The lamb was tender and just gamy enough, and the tangy yogurt dill sauce was the perfect foil for it. The eggplant and tomatoes were stacked, with layers of basil pesto in between. Each component was great on its own, and even better in combination.
For dessert, Katie ordered the nectarine-berry cobbler, which also looked fabulous.
David ordered the night's dessert special, a pine nut tart.
He described it as similar to "soft peanut brittle" and that's the best description I could come up with the flavor/texture. The kitchen staff put candles on David's and my desserts, which I thought was cute.
My dessert was the Pralus chocolate souffle with a creme anglais.
This was warm and melty, with a great bittersweet chocolate flavor. Often chocolate desserts at restaurants are way too sweet for my tastes, but this was just exactly right.
And here we are, stuffed to the gills:
When the bill came, we were surprised (and pleased) to find out that David's friend Jennifer had surreptitiously paid for the dinner. Thanks, Jennifer!