which was at Cafe 21 in the Gaslamp...
Bert actually dropped us off a block away so we could get seated while he went to get parking at the Horton Plaza parking garage. I hadn't been here since last year with my gal pals from the gym. This year, it would be me, Bert and TC out on a rare night downtown, a place we normally avoid, especially at night.
Cafe 21 has a great birthday deal where the birthday person gets one free entree. The coupon doesn't specify any restrictions, like, a free entree with another or an entree plus drinks. There weren't any free tables on the outside patio (which was just as well since it was pretty loud and noisy because it was next to the Coyote Ugly bar) so we sat inside at a high top table across from their bar. I was fascinated by this square of potted herbs at the bar where the bartenders would pick mint and basil straight from the pots to garnish drinks.
I didn't really want to drink a cocktail (especially since they were $10) so I, along with TC both got iced teas; hers with mango and mine with coconut. The tea was in this really cool pressurized carafe. The tea was dispensed once it was placed on top of the wide mouthed Mason jar. It pours super fast. Once you life the carafe, no spills. It's amazing! You can see the coconut shreds in my tea. We both enjoyed our tea which were so delicious and didn't even need extra sugar.
My free entree was the $30 meat platter (in the back), while the Grilled Whole Seabass was $29 and the Roasted Pear salad $12.
What kind of sucked was when we got our receipt, they only comped the SALAD for the birthday entree.
WTF.
Bert thought something like that might happen because sometimes some places are uptight and shifty and try to lowball you. Soooooo, I nicely pointed out the receipt to our server and also reminded her that on my email printout that the birthday entree is for any entree. She was really nice about it and said she'd show it to her manager; she came back a few minutes later with a revised receipt. That's how it should be done folks. Cafe 21's birthday deal is one of the best out there which is why I take advantage of it. If you plan to sign up for it and use it for your birthday, make sure they know up front what your birthday entree is. For the record, I DID point it out to our server that my choice was the meat platter (strategically chosen) thinking that she would remember.
And here it is the Meat Platter shared by me and Bert: Sangria braised short rib, grilled hangar steak, purple potato tartare, au just, summer squash zucchini bread (the two round pucks in the back) and some sort of white sauce (which we didn't know what it was but it tasted good!), topped off with sprouts.
OMG, this was so delicious! The shortrib was melt in your mouth tender. The steak slices were also just right, not too bloody. I wasn't a fan of the zucchini bread puck thing (seen here cut in half). It was kind of thick and didn't really add much to the dish.
We all shared this salad (more so for TC) which came with mixed greens, roasted pears, cranberries, sliced almonds, plus two types of dressing (requested on the side by dressing hating me), regular balsamic and a fruity one, and also on the side, the dreaded feta cheese. I loved the fruity dressing and that the pears really were roasted. The pears' sweetness was heightened by the roasting. Nice textures here minus the cheese because feta cheese = barf.
Lastly, the other entree which was whole roasted sea bass with a side of bread. It was served in the cast iron skilled it was cooked in. The tomatoes and onions had a wonderful caramelization to them as well. Other than the few encounters with bones, we enjoyed this dish. The portion was perfect for us to share.
This cleaned off the bones pic is for Cathy and her Mister.
The serving dishes that our entrees were on were such random sizes. The meat platter came on a reall huge dish that took up a big portion of our table. We had to do some creative rearranging to making everything fit since we had mini rectangular plates in addition to the three entrees.
Other than the slight SNAFU with the bill, which was rectified, we enjoyed our dinner and the more subdued atmosphere inside the restaurant rather than on the super busy outdoor patio.
It was so wierd being our on a Saturday night no less. I usually avoid this area like the plague! It was really busy, as it usually is, downtown with lots of folks out, including a bachelorette posse (a whole gaggle of young women in super short black dresses sashaying down the street), street performers on the corners singing for money, homeless, bro's and tourists and so on..
Dessert was a few blocks away at our favorite downtown dessert joint, Le Parfait Paris.
New to the shop were these chocolate sculptures. This bunny was probably a holdover from Easter.
Looks so pretty but we didn't get any of these, although I was curious about that Paris Brest which is a choux pastry (cream puff) filled with praline cream.
I'll have to try it next time, as Moon Unit Zappa said in her one and only hit, "Valley Girl",
"FOR SURE SURE!"
"My English teacher is like...Mr. Bufu! We're talking Lord God King Bufu!"
This song is so hilarious! I totally remember when it came out!
These fake eggs (they looked real to me at first) were probably also an Easter decoration. I liked the spiky container it was in!
Bert ordered a hazelnut soy latte (he had most of it since I'm not fond of lattes) and TC's hot chocolate along with our desserts, Le Trilogie and a chocolate croissant. TC was a bit bummed that her favorite chocolate almond croissant wasn't there so she settled for this one.
Le Trilogie's layers within....
which was so light and fluffy!
One of the downtown buildings as snapped by TC....
There was a Padre game that same evening (they won against the Giants, 10-2) and we wanted to avoid any traffic issues which we didn't experience, thank goodness.
Previous visit to Cafe 21, downtown
"Happy Hour at Cafe 21, Gaslamp", April 2014
Previous visit to Le Parfait Paris:
"Pre-show dessert at Le Parfait Paris" last month4
Although my real birthday isn't until a couple more days, I intend to stretch out my birthday month as long as possible
Yeah baby! Ha ha!
4 comments:
What a great dinner! Thanks for the carcass photo. Dessert looks wonderful; we've only been to the Mission Valley location of LPP
It was a great dinner! I knew you would like the mangled remains photo!
Cafe 21 is seriously the best birthday deal (happy birthday - I'm so behind reading your posts!!). Luckily they were able to fix it for you. I've always had them correctly take off the right item but maybe they just messed up because it was busy or they were trying to get away with it (or heck, the waitress might not have been trained). I totally thought that one dessert said "breast" instead "brest"... oops! I wanted to visit their Mission Valley location last weekend but didn't get a chance to. Maybe this weekend...
You're right, it's the BEST one! There isn't any price restriction on what you can order so I made sure to maximize it. Too bad the server got the bill wrong the first time but she fixed it.
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