oh man. today has already been a doozy of a day, and it’s not even 9:30am yet! we woke up late this morning, so it was a mad dash to get brad out the door in take to see his first patient (he made it!) and then i had to scramble to do my morning routine as quick as possible so i wouldn’t get into work too late. then, the bus driver made some wrong turns on the route, so i ended up arriving at lab even later than i would have! geesh.
but i’m taking a deep breath, and moving on with my day.
first thing on my list is to tell you about my awesome dinner last night. holly, kelly, kimberly, kristie, and i met up for dinner at harvest to take advantage of their restaurant week menu (madison blogger meet-up – check another item off my 101 in 1001!).
(photo from kimberly)
(sorry about the awful quality of these photos. the light was very low in the restaurant and they had yellow paper lanterns hanging all over, which just made the lighting of these photos way beyond my level of ability to fix. so this is what we get…)
after lots of chatting and comparing of camera straps, etc. we ordered! i got a malbec to drink with my meal and went with a delicious salad for my first course.
i got the salad of roasted pear, racicchio, frisee, wisconsin blue cheese, walnuts with warm bacon-pear vinaigrette. i’m salivating a bit just remembering it.
i don’t usually go for pear things, but i really enjoyed this salad. the pear wasn’t warm like i was expecting, but it was still good!
we were also served a lovely little roll with our first course.
of course it didn’t last long after i spread a little butter on it!
for my entree, i chose the house made cavatelli pasta with roasted winter root vegetables and black truffle butter. (the black truffle butter is what sold me on this one…)
it was very good, but kristie & kimberly got the chicken option, which was so good. i had a bit of food envy going on… the pasta also ended up sitting like a rock in my stomach for the rest of the night. but i still think it was worth it!
and finally, for my dessert, i chose the mocha bavarian cake.
oh wow richness. this cake was very very good, but very very rich. it was also very mocha-y, which i enjoyed, but i can see how it might be a bit much for some people! all three dessert options were ordered at our table so i also got the try the classic turtle cheesecake and the house-made gingerbread ice cream & biscotti. all 3 desserts were awesome. dessert course won this meal for me!
the whole meal was definitely a winner though. there was not a crumb left on a single one of my plates, even though i definitely should have stopped about half-way through my cake because i was stuffed to the brim when i left the restaurant!
my second restaurant week experience was definitely a success and i had so much fun chatting with and getting to know some fellow madison food bloggers!
full disclosure: we paid for this meal entirely on our own and i was not compensated in any way for this blog post. as always, all thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.
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which dessert would you have chosen? mocha bavarian cake, house-made gingerbread ice cream & biscotti, or classic turtle cheesecake?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
WOW! You chose some good menu items
That salad sounds good. Well, without the bacon dressing (for me anyway 
). That pasta sounds AWESOME. Truffle butter and truffle oil are what I call the poor man’s fancy ingredients. Truffles are SO expensive. When I was in upstate New York, I went to the amazing Wegman’s grocery store and the truffles were in the produce section, in a locked box and sold for $120/pound or something ridiculous. The butter and oil are the way to go! Great pics!
Aparna B. @ Not A Leaf recently posted…What I Ate Wednesday – The First!
thanks lady! yeah, i’ve never had actual truffles before, but i do love truffle oil & butter.
Holy cow you are fast with the blogging!
Yay for Restaurant Week and Blogger Meet-Ups!
Kelly recently posted…Restaurant Review: Karyn’s Cooked
haha, well i knew i’d be eating out all week, so i just planned to have these posts up the following day! also, i’ve obviously not been cooking since i ate out ALL WEEK, so i don’t have any recipes or meals to share!
I’m seriously having a hard time forgetting about how amazing my chicken was. I think I told Chris about it twice last night and again today?
oh my gosh, kristie. i honestly think it was some of the best chicken i’ve ever had. i still have major food envy going on.
Classic turtle cheesecake, hands down.
haha, of course that’s what you’d choose momma! turtle anything for you.
I love when restaurants do restaurant week! My favorite is definitely turtle cheesecake. I love any kind of cheesecake.
this is my first time going out to eat for restaurant week, but i will not be missing any more, that’s for sure!
the cheesecake was delicious – the caramel made it.
I have never been to Harvest. We’ve always thought about going during restaurant week or for a special occasion, but never made it. I’ll have to make sure it stays on the list of places to try.
Chelsea recently posted…WTFT
it was a very good dinner (and definitely more affordable than going there and getting a 3-course meal any other time!). the chicken was definitely one of the best chicken dishes i’ve ever had in my life.