A 24 hour break from cooking for Tom

Tom was able to enjoy almost a day without cooking for us this weekend.  This is pretty rare since we tend to enjoy being home and don't regularly head out for meals other than some brunch/lunch outings.

Friday Night - Pesce & Vino (Three Chopt Rd - West End)
Tom and I have been meeting for a martini at Patina Grill after work on Fridays but due to a vet appointment for our dog Lexus that was not possible this week.  We decided to scrap our Chinese takeout plans and head out for dinner.  We voted on staying close to home and trying a new place.  Pesce & Vino is a relatively new place that focuses on Italian fare with an emphasis on seafood.  The yelp and open table reviews showed some promise so we went for it.  The restaurant is not large and it pretty much one large room with ~55 seats.  We got there around 7 and the place was pretty much at capacity.  It took a few mins for someone to seat us as the hostess was helping out with tables as well.  Some of the reviews noted that dinner could take awhile so we were prepared and honestly that normally doesn't bother us..assuming we have a glass of wine or drink while we wait :-).  As soon as I sat down I knew we were going to have a wait as I noticed a large table of 10 in the restaurant and only 2 waiters.  Our waiter was very nice and tried his best but I feel like they are still working out the kinks of being new and how to run the restaurant efficiently. So let's just get to the food...to start Tom and I decided to share two appetizers; Clams Casino and Spicy Shrimp.

Clams Casino

Spicy Shrimp

The spicy shrimp were good they were not too spicy and had a nice flavor.  As you can see both dishes only came with 5 of each item which made it a bit uneven for a table of 2 to split.  Clams casino is one of my favorites and I was slightly disappointed to find that the majority of the filling for the clams were bread crumbs.  Overall, the appetizers were good however, I would have liked to see a little less bread filling in the clams.

Next up, entrees.  Tom chose calamari stuffed with crab and I went with linguine with lump crab meat, prosciutto, and walnuts.

Linguine with lump crab, prosciutto, and walnuts 

Calamari stuffed with crab

  I thought my meal was very good.  The portions were large so i focused on not eating all the pasta (which for me is tough) and eat all the goodies.  I had never had walnuts in a pasta before and I thought it was very good and different to have a bit of crunch as you enjoyed the pasta.  Tom enjoyed his calamari however he was slightly disappointed in the crab filling.  He thought it would be just lump crab meat but it seemed to mixed with additional ingredients (which we couldn't figure out what).

Overall, we were pleased with our meal.  I don't think we will be rushing back there but I would definitely keep up with reviews of the place to see how they dealing with their growing pains.

Saturday morning - Toast (Patterson - Near U of R)
Tom and I already had plans to go to VMFA on Saturday afternoon which was definitely my suggestion :-). While we were at dinner on Friday Tom asked if I wanted to go to Toast for a bloody mary and light brunch before we go to VMFA and Amuse.  He would then be able to watch his Barcelona Soccer Game.  He had me at bloody mary.  We love Toast!  We have been going there for a while now primarily on the weekends for brunch/lunch.  We tend to sit at the bar...there is usually never a wait...and we can watch the TV for whatever sports game we are there to watch.  They have great mimosas and bloody mary's as well as impressive beer selection (for Tom).  As we were deciding on how much food we were going to eat here vs. Amuse later we decided to start with one of our favorite appetizers.  Fried jalapeno's and pickles.   They come in a small tin bucket and are delicious and always hot!  The sauce it comes with is fantastic as well.  As we enjoyed those we decided we would have a meal at Toast versus more snacks.  I went with something I haven't had there and tried there 3x3 omelet.  You get to choose three ingredients and have option for egg whites for $1 extra.  It comes with toast and awesome hash browns!  I chose cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and avocado.  It was good but my cheese wasn't all melted and I probably would have enjoyed some chorizo instead of tomato!  Something to know for next time.  Tom went with Huevos Rancheros with eggs over easy.   That is one of our favorites on the brunch menu.  It comes with two corn tostadas, black beans, eggs, guacamole,salsa and cheese.  We had a great brunch unfortunately Barcelona lost.

Huevos Rancheros

 Amuse at VMFA - Boulevard
After Toast we headed straight down to VMFA.  I wanted to check out the last Hollywood Costume exhibit of celebrity photography before it closed.  To get Tom excited to go I suggested we go to Amuse for a cocktail and snacks after..as an added bonus he was able to get the reservation on Open Table and get a 1,000 point bonus!  We walked around most of the museum and headed to Amuse about 15 mins early.  They had no problem seating us.  Amuse currently has a themed cocktail menu focusing around the Hollywood Costume Exhibit.  We were told that was changing in the next few weeks.  First up, drink choices.  I went with the Ruby Slipper which was a sparkling wine with Creme de Cassis and candied lemon.  Creme de Cassis is a blackcurrant liqueur that is pretty sweet.  It pairs phenomenally well with sparkling wine. Tom went with a Vesper.  They still had the lunch menu while we were there but due to our large brunch we went with two small appetizers while we enjoyed our drinks.  We chose the fried oysters and the cheese plate.


The Rappahannock Curry-Fried Oysters are served over cucumber-mint raita & garnished with pickled veggies.  I'm not one for curry but the waitress told me that it was light and I shouldn't notice it.  Unfortunately, I seem to be pretty sensitive to curry and I did notice it.  Even with that the breading and the oysters were well done and I know Tom definitely enjoyed.

The cheese plate came with 3 cow's milk cheeses.  All of which were delicious.  There was also fruit, honey and apricot preserves.

Our choices were spot on for a nice snack after walking around the museum.  Tom and I recently became members of the museum and definitely see ourselves heading down there in the spring/summer to enjoy the beautiful patio during their happy hour.

Well, that concludes our 24 hours of restaurant adventures.  Now it is time for Tom to get back in the kitchen.  No more time off for him for another week!

Bon Appetit!