Chez TJ

For the past year or so, Jeff and I have been doing fancy dinner nights with our friends, Daniel and Meredith Hiltgen. Jeff and I had been putting off going to Chez TJ for Fancy Night Out because we had been there in the past and were unimpressed. We decided to go for FNO because we were able to get a 30% off reservation through Savored.com. Woo hoo!!!

Chez TJ is located in a Victorian house turned restaurant in downtown Mountain View: http://www.cheztj.com/  It has a Michelin star and recently picked up a new chef, the chef from Plumed Horse (Jeff's and my favorite restaurant in the South Bay). At Chez TJ, you can choose from two menus, the 8-course Chefs Tasting Menu or the Menu Gastronomique. With the Menu Gastronomique, there are 5 courses, and you choose from 2 or 3 items for each course. We went with the Menu Gastronomique. It's cheaper and the Tasting Menu was a little fish-heavy. With the four of us eating, we ordered at least one of each item per course.

To start, our server brought us a caviar dish - two types of caviar, a rose water created caviar, a sweet and sour cavier, and a cream. It was yummy and crunchy. I loved the different textures and flavors.

Next, they brought out yummy bread and butter. Nothing fancy, just good. And the butter-olive oil setup was cute.

And now, for a little surprise... We heard that sometimes Chez TJ likes to give their customers a little treat which can no longer be purchased in California. We were hoping this would be included in our evening, and it was! FOIE GRAS!!!

It was a foie gras mousse with a foam and crunchy things on top. Unfortunately, we were disappointed with the dish. Being big foie gras fans, we wanted something extra yummy and definitely didn't get it :(  The foam was overpowering and there wasn't enough mousse.

Now, for our starters:
Maine Lobster with quinoa, fennel, and truffle:

Dungeness Crab Veloute with brioche, radish, and dill:

And, Tongue & Beets with mustard, kale, and cucumber:

My favorite dish of the whole evening was the lobster starter, and I generally am not a fan of lobster! But, I'm even less of a fan of dungeness crab and tongue, so I went with the lobster, and it was amazing, everything about the dish! My mouth is watering just thinking about it right now. Yum! Meredith liked the dungeness crab, and Jeff thought the beets and tongue was so-so. It was good all together, but the separate pieces weren't great.

Next, for the fish courses:
Branzino with celeriac, cabbage, and lemon verbena:

And, Ahi Tuna with black Arkansas apple, radish, and dashi:

I mistakenly went with the Branzino. I love Ahi, but the server talked up the preparation of the Branzino, and I fell for it. It wasn't bad, it just didn't excite me. Oh well.

Meat time!
Sonoma Rabbit with Porcini, Castelvetrano olive, and confit garlic:

And, Prime Ribeye with sweetbreads, spinach, and kale:

I went with the Ribeye. I don't really like rabbit. Unfortunately, I didn't love the ribeye dish either. I liked the food on the right, the meat :). It was cooked perfectly. But, I didn't like the sweetbreads or the spinach flan. In fact, I didn't even take second bites.

Mmmmm... Cheese... It was awesome!!!

I forgot to take a picture before we started eating it, and I wasn't really paying attention when the server described the plate, but I'll do my best, left to right: crackers, aged Gouda, apples and honey, yummy cheese (maybe Cheddar?), zuchinni bread, triple-cream goat cheese (I totally made that up), and persimmons. Or something like that. It was all fantastic!!!

Time for a pallet cleanser! Sorbet with gelee:

 

Nothing fancy, but tasty.

 

DESSERT!!!

Valrhona Nyangbo Marquis with vanilla, hazelnut, and cacao nib:

Super yummy! After the lobster starter and cheese course, this was my favorite. I don't know what the kiss-like things were and didn't like those, but the rest was great!

 

Curried Carrot Cake with ginger, raisin, and pineapple:

At this point in the meal, I totally forgot to ask how the carrot cake was, but Daniel ate it all!

 

And, an extra little treat:

 

A raspberry gelee and pecans. Both were too sweet for my sweet tooth. (I couldn't figure out how to turn this picture).

 

 

All in all, it was a great meal, with great wine, and great company. We will probably go back at some point, but not anytime soon. When we go back, we'll definitely try to get the 30% discount again. That made it worth it. Without the discount, it would have been too expensive for what we had. Can't wait for our next FNO - Alexander's Steakhouse in January!

Le Papillon - Yum, Yum, Yum

For Christmas 2009, Jeff and I received a gift certificate, along with a night of babysitting, from my mom and Ray to Le Papillon in San Jose. We'd been there in the past with my parents and were looking forward to a romantic night out.
http://www.lepapillon.com/

More than a year after receiving the gift certificate, we were finally able to try it! My mom and Ray took Eliana for the night, and we were ready for our date. When we showed up to Le Papillon, the bar was full with young people. We were a little surprised because we remembered it having an older crowd, more of an "early bird" type. We were immediately seated in a nice quiet corner. The dining area of the restaurant wasn't too busy, but our reservation was at 6:00, so I guess that's to be expected.

Our server was nice and knowledgeable, but seemed a little new to the job. The decor of the restaurant was out-dated; it had more of a nice restaurant in the 80s feel, not a fancy restaurant in the 2000s.

Soon after we looked over our menus and decided to order from the menu, rather than do the tasting menu, our server brought out an amuse bouche. Yum! It was a vegetable and goat cheese Napoleon, with beets and other veggies. It was a small bite of deliciousness. Immediately after clearing the Napoleon plate, she brought another amuse bouche! This was a bite of melt-in-your-mouth foie gras.

Jeff couldn't even wait for me to take the picture before eating his :)

And then, a third amuse bouche! This was a little yogurt ball surrounded in ouzo. To the side was pickled cucumber and on top was pickled lime. When you bit into it, the yogurt burst into your mouth. Very tasty. The pickled foods added a nice touch. Jeff doesn't typically go for pickled foods, but certainly enjoyed this little bite.

I felt so spoiled by the three surprise amuse bouches at the start, I couldn't wait for more surprises.

For appetizers, I ordered the Pan Seared Maine Day Boat Scallops with Hazelnut Polenta and Preserved Lemon. The server let me know the scallops aren't cooked all the way through, so I asked for them to be cooked a little extra. It was a tasty dish. I especially loved the Hazelnut Polenta (I'm a sucker for hazelnut). But, having it cooked extra certainly didn't help the dish. Slightly undercooked would have made it taste a lot better. I only ate one of the scallops.

Jeff ordered the Foie Gras Two Ways appetizer, hot and cold. It ended up being foie gras three ways. He loved the warm foie gras and wanted more. The cold foie gras he really liked but was a little too salty. The third way was a cappuccino foie gras... interesting... He didn't really like this one at all. He took a couple of sips and decided it wasn't worth finishing.

Next, I had the Sugar Snap Pea Soup with Roasted Button Shitake Mushrooms. YUMMY! This was absolutely delicious. The peas tasted fresh, like they had just been picked from the garden. The Shitake mushrooms added a nice chewy texture and flavor to the soup. I slurped this fast and wanted more.

Jeff had the Lobster Bisque with a Mousse. He should have ordered the pea soup. I could smell the fishy smell of the soup from across the table, and it wasn't too appetizing. Jeff didn't like it, so I didn't venture a taste. Needless to say, he did not finish the dish.

For my entree, I had the Pan Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Maitake Mushrooms, Potato Gratin and Roast Plum. Wow! Yum! On the right side of the dish, you can see they also included a bone marrow ravioli. Hmmm... I had a little taste and gave the rest to Jeff. It was surprisingly good. A very rich creamy texture. And on the left side is a candied date. Sweet and yummy! This dish was fantastic! It was prepared perfectly - cooked slightly more than medium-rare, slightly less than medium. The meat melted in my mouth. The Maitake mushrooms added a nice earthy flavor and interesting spongy texture. The potato gratin was amazing - thinly sliced fried potatoes with melted cheese. In my eyes, this was a perfect dish. In fact, my mouth is watering as I think about it.



They allowed Jeff to order his entree off the tasting menu (which was too much food for me). He ordered the 24 Hour Missouri Wagyu Tri Tip with Oxtail Dumpling, Pot-au-Feu Broth. Sounds delicious to me! Jeff loved it and finished every last bit of meat and drop of sauce. He wasn't willingly to share a bite with me. On the back left is a pea souffle, and on the back right is the oxtail dumpling. Fancy!

After we finished dinner, we looked at the dessert menu. Nothing jumped out to us, so we ended up going to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream :)  Le Papillon had a banquet room behind where we were sitting and some type of award office party was going on. Everyone was loud and having a good time. When we left, the bar was completly empty, and we realized everyone that was in the bar when we showed up was part of the office party. In reality, the bar at Le Papillon is not a happening place on a Saturday night.

Although the decor has not been updated in awhile, the food is traditional French (escargot is on the menu!) while still being modern and fun. We had a fantastic dinner and would definitely go back.

ARCADIA, San Jose - Friday, September 24

On Friday night, Jeff and I had a date night! We went to ARCADIA in downtown San Jose at the Marriott hotel for dinner and Burn the Floor afterwards.
http://www.sanjosemarriott.com/arcadia.php

Our reservation at ARCADIA was at 6:00, but Jeff didn't even get home until after 6. When I called to let the restaurant know we were running late, they made it simple and said it wasn't a problem. We were seated by 6:30 at a table by the window and let our server know we had a show down the street at 8:00. He assured us it wouldn't be a problem.

ARCADIA had been recommended to me by a few different people, so I was looking forward to a delicious dinner. We started with the Lobster Corn Dogs and Foie Gras Slider. I knew it was going to be a good night!
The Lobster Corn Dogs were delicious. There were four mini corn dogs on the plate with whole grain mustard under each dog. There was a little fennel salad on the side. They had the texture of a regular corn dog but seemed a lot lighter. Both of us wished there had been little chunks of lobster in it, but it was completely smooth. We were happy even without the chunks.

The Foie Gras Slider was also amazing. It was exactly how you're imagining it - a thick slice of foie gras on a little toasted hamburger bun. There were also raisins on the bun. On the side, there was a dipping sauce. The dish made me think of a French Dip sandwich, but a million times better. Although, the four bites I had were plenty because it was so rich.

Next, I had the Burrata Cheese salad and Jeff had the Mushroom Bisque. My salad was the only thing I didn't love in the whole meal. It had the Burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes, and balsamic. The tomatoes were great, but the cheese was a bit drier than I would expect from a Burrata. The dryness took away from the dish. Not being a mushroom fan, I only took a small taste of Jeff's bisque. I thought it was pretty good, and he loved it. It was light and smooth with a cognac cream and crunchy truffled croutons. "Truffle" is pretty much a food buzz word, and I doubt it added anything to the dish.

For entrees, I had the Grilled Colorado Lamb Chop and Jeff's had the Dry Aged New York with bernaise sauce and a side of Classic Whipped Potatoes. The lamb chop was four chops on top of a corona bean (like large fava beans but grainier) and asparagus cassoulet (was really just a salad) with port macerated currants and mint oil. My meat was cooked a perfect medium-rare. I typically don't order lamb in restaurants, but it just sounded right for the night. I was worried the mint oil would be over-powering, but in reality, I barely even tasted it in the dish. If you like lamb chops, this is the dish for you. Jeff said his New York cooked rare was pretty good. He watched something recently about dry aged meat and was looking forward to his steak. He only ate half of the steak (still on a diet) and a few bites of mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were ok. They were completely smooth and kind of reminded me of potato buds... I prefer more chunks in my mashed potatoes.

By this time, it was 7:30, and I was craving dessert. Something chocolate... When I saw the dessert menu, I knew I had to have the Chocolate Pot de Creme. This was the dessert we had at our wedding, so I had to see how ARCADIA's stood up. Wow! It was amazing!!! Definitely worth being rushed before the show. The pot de creme seemed to have two layers - a thicker layer on top, and a mousse-like layer on the bottom. On top of the pot de creme were four perfectly cooked beignets. Sometimes, restaurant beignets are overcooked or heavy. Not these. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. They were light and still slightly warm. A perfect way to end the meal!

We were out of there by 7:40 and made it to the show in plenty of time. Burn the Floor is one of my favorite shows, and this time was extra fun because some dancers from So You Think You Can Dance were in it - Mary Murphy, Pasha, Anya, and Ryan & Ashleigh. I don't think the show was as good as it was the first time I saw it, but I still loved it.

Day 9 - Isla Vista and Los Alamos - Friday, September 10th

Ahhhh.... Finally starting the drive back home!

We decided to make a quick stop in Isla Vista before we went to Los Alamos to stay the night at my cousins'.

Del Playa - How I've missed you! Although, you are much cleaner than I remember.

6619 DP #8. Beautiful things happened here. I heart DP.

6625 DP #5. This is where Jeff lived with Mike Schaiman, Brian Jensen, Eric Giessler, Paul Nyugen, and a few others. He moved out two weeks before I moved in. The girls at 6619 became great friends with the boys at 6625. I love you all!!!

Here's the view off our balcony to the East. Beautiful.

Here's the view off our balcony to the West. Absolutely amazing sunsets.

A lot of the restaurants have changed, but Domino's is still there. TA's is gone :(  I probably wouldn't eat the sushi from a restaurant in IV...

De'ja vu had the best jalapeno poppers! Great for late night delivery!!!

For a snack, we went to Giovanni's. It was a beautiful day, and a lot of students were hanging out on the patio, eating pizza and drinking beer. I miss Isla Vista!

And then, off to my cousin Kelley's in Los Alamos to play with her and her beautiful daughter Mia. Eliana and Mia are three months apart and are going to have so much fun growing up together as cousins, along with one other boy cousin and two other girl cousins.

Day 8 - Broken Yolk, Proper Pub, Giants-Pads - Thursday, September 9th

Today was going to be a big day. Going in, the Giants were two games behind the Padres and going to be playing them in a 4 game series. We were excited!

We started the day by going to Broken Yolk Cafe for breakfast. Jeff picked it because of the Man vs. Food Challenge - a dozen egg omelet with mushrooms, onions, and American cheese, covered in chili and more cheese with two biscuits and a lot of homefries. Jeff keeps saying he would have done the challenge, but he's not eating french fries for all of 2010. Maybe next year!
http://www.thebrokenyolkcafe.com/

We were able to walk to the restaurant from where we were staying. It had a beachy feel and wasn't crowded on a Thursday morning. I'd been to the one in Pacific Beach before, and that one seems to always be packed.

I ordered the California Breakfast Burrito (it came highly recommended) from the "South of the Border" portion of the menu... Hmmm... It was scrambled eggs with bacon, cheddar cheese, home fries, avocado, and beans. The tortilla wasn't very soft, but other than that, it was delicious. They were generous with the avocado, and Eliana ate all of it. The eggs were cooked perfectly. I would have liked more bacon, but don't we all???

Jeff ordered the John Wayne omelet with mushrooms, onions, and American cheese with chili and more cheese on top. Sound familiar? While writing this, I'm realizing he chose the omelet most similar to the Challenge. Maybe he's preparing for a future visit??? He didn't have much of an opportunity to prepare. Eliana ended up not wanting to be at breakfast, so we had a quick meal. Jeff didn't even get to finish. And walked back to our place in the rain. Yes, rain in San Diego. In September.

We relaxed for the rest of the day until it was time to go to the ballgame. We were going to the game with some friends (Sara & Mike Pratt, Jim Clarke, Tim & Casey), and some other friends from San Jose were in town (Alfred Viola!), so we all met up at Proper Pub beforehand.
http://www.propergastropub.com/

I loved this place! It's a self-proclaimed gastro pub. Yummy! A feel of a pub but with better food. Proper Pub has a second floor patio with views into Petco Park. It was beautiful. Because of our group size, we had to sit inside downstairs, but in the future, I would sit on the patio.

Proper Pub has a wallet-friendly Happy Hour menu. We started our meal with Mac n Cheese Balls and the Hummus Board. The Mac n Cheese Balls were amazing - macaroni, smoked cheddar and gruyere cheeses, applewood smoked bacon, and panko, FRIED. Delicious!!! I didn't like the hummus too much (and I usually do!). It was too lemony and had a thicker texture than I typically like.

One of the best parts about Proper Pub is that next door is a wine bar called Wine Steals. Wine Steals does fruit, salami, and cheese plates that you can order at Proper Pub. We ordered the half Artisan Cheese Board. It came with four cheeses, fruit, and crackers. The size of it was a little embarrassing. It was huge. And delicious.
http://www.winestealssd.com/

And now, time for the ballgame! Petco Park has been one of my favorites since it opened. Nice park, good friends, great series. We were ready! Go Giants! In our group, everyone was a Giants fan, except Sara. Other friends from the Bay Area were also there - Jen, Adam, Noah, and Tyler Tschop - and we were able to hang out with more Giants fans. The Giants ended up kicking butt 7-3, and were only 1 game back behind the Pads. Woo hoo! And, Eliana got to see a Buster Posey homerun. One of the most fun parts of the evening was leaving the stadium. For anyone who follows the NL West, you know that the Padres fans do not come out in full force. At least 30% of the fans there were Giants fans. As we were leaving, there was lots of cheering, chanting, and high-fives. The G-fans were excited!

Eliana and Casey, hoping Panda didn't hit into a double-play.

Road Trip - Day 7 - SD Zoo and Sushi - Wednesday, September 8

Ahhh.... Finally a day to just hang out! All three of us were looking forward to it. After Eliana's morning nap, we went to the San Diego Zoo. That place is more amazing than I remember it being!
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

One nice thing about where we were staying is that it was less than a mile to the zoo. We could walk there! But we decided not to because we didn't want Eliana to be in her stroller any longer than necessary. She doesn't like the car and she doesn't love the stroller. Crazy kid! :)

The zoo is at one end of Balboa Park. If you're in San Diego, and have the time, make sure to spend some of it exploring Balboa Park.
http://www.balboapark.org/
There are great restaurants, great museums, and lots of luscious green grass to hang out on. We want to go back!

Once we got to the zoo, it was time to eat lunch. If you end up going, I'd recommend to eat beforehand or to bring your own. I had chicken tacos and Jeff had fish tacos. The food was mediocre and expensive. The rice and beans on the side were cold. It fit into our schedule to do it this way, but in the future, I'd have a different plan. It wasn't worth it!

First we went to see the monkeys. One of the orangutans came right up to the window and just sat there, like he had been waiting for us to show up. At first she was scared, but Eliana ended up thinking this was great. Then we went to see the other crazy monkeys. All were very active and fun to watch. Eliana also really liked the ducks floating in the hippo exhibit. In the hippo exhibit, you can go down below so you can see them under the water. It's a perfect place to watch the ducks because you can see them above and below the water through the glass. Eliana kept banging on the glass at them. The final favorite exhibit was the elephants, Elephant Odyssey. This was amazing!!! The exhibit is huge! The elephants are huge! Wow!!! Eliana made elephant noises at them, and we ended up buying her a stuffed elephant that we named Horton (after the movie she had watched 7 times in the car).

Being in the stroller was tough for Eliana, so we carried her most of the time. She was worn out after a couple of hours, so we ended up leaving earlier than we would have liked. We missed the giraffe and the big cats exhibits and had to rush through many others, including the elephants. The zoo was fantastic and I can't wait to go back.

This night was my night off! Sara and I were going to sushi for dinner. For those of you who don't know Sara, she was my roommate freshman year at UCSB and my maid of honor. A few years ago, I introduced her to her now-husband Mike Pratt, and celebrated their wedding with them in Hawaii as a bridesmaid this past April. I was so excited to have a free evening and catch up with Sara!!! After a Yelp search, we decided on Azuki Sushi in Banker's Hill. It felt like a neighborhood sushi place. The sushi chefs knew the names of most of the people who walked in. Everyone was very nice. They were having a party on the back patio. I knew Yelp had led us in the right direction.
http://www.azukisushi.com/

They had a good selection of Happy Hour Specials. We decided to start with the Atsu-age Tofu. I don't know how it was different from Age Dashi Tofu, but it was yummy (and cheap during Happy Hour).

I love Age Dashi Tofu, and this was just as delicious.

Next, we had the Super Dragon roll - a rock shrimp mix with shrimp tempura, topped with unagi, avocado, and eel sauce. I wasn't impressed. I didn't think it was super. It was fine. I would eat it again if someone else ordered it, but I wouldn't order it myself. There were too many other delicious items on the menu!



Then, we had the By the Border roll. This was much more "super". It was spicy tuna and avocado topped with seared albacore, sliced jalapeno, and a spicy mayo. Yummy! The jalapeno added just the right amount of spiciness. This one made me much happier than the Super Dragon roll.

The final sushi roll we ordered was the R U Kidding Me? roll. We loved this one! The name was appropriate. Very fancy and unexpected. It was made with diver scallops, krab, and tempura asparagus and topped with seared tuna and white truffle oil. On top was mixed greens in ponzu and flash fried chives. Wow! Not only did this dish look amazing, but it also tasted great. I wanted more!

Even though I was full, I didn't want our evening to end. The dessert menu didn't look great, so Sara and I just hung out and chatted for a bit.

Two things I really liked about this restaurant:
1) The sushi was perfect bite-sized pieces. Biting into a piece from a big sushi roll is one of the least sexy things someone can do. It's messy, it falls apart, it sticks in your teeth, it gets on your chin. This didn't happen at all at Azuki Sushi. Perfect sized bites!
2) The sushi rolls came out in a timely fashion. Often, when you order sushi, everything will come all at once, out of order, or so far apart, you're full before the last rolls make it to the table. At Azuki Sushi, it was timed perfectly.

Sara and I had a great time catching up while we were on our date. This was a delicious sushi place, and I look forward to going back next time I'm in San Diego.

Road Trip - Day 6 - Arizona to SD - Tuesday, September 7th

Less than 48 hours in Arizona, and it was time to sit in the car again for another LONG drive. This time to San Diego! One of my favorite cities! The nice thing about driving from Arizona to San Diego is the speed limit is 75 most of the way and no one is on the road. It took us a little less than 7 hours, and we stopped twice, not bad! Eliana was pretty good. Thanks again to the Aguilars for letting us borrow their DVD player!!! Total life saver!!!

We were so excited when we got to San Diego! The place we were staying at was just off the freeway in the Gaslamp District in downtown SD, seemed like a great location. Turns out, we were one block from the homeless mecca of California. Wow! We quickly realized we didn't want to be walking around after dark. Jeff even took off his watch on our walk to dinner. Pluses - the place was great, friendly staff, nice room, parking lot, can walk downtown, work out facility, close to Balboa Park. Minuses - not the best location.

Once we were settled in the room, we walked to 5th Avenue, where all the action is. There were lots of restaurants in a row, each with an attractive woman at the front who would try to get you to go to their restaurant by explaining the menu and specials. Kind of like a European vibe, but totally different. The Gaslamp District has a young-beachy-going-out feel to it. It's one step above Pacific Beach in San Diego, which is one step above Isla Vista. And I love it!

After looking at a few different menus, we settled on Panevino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta. I'm a sucker for homemade pasta!
http://www.osteriapanevino.com/

Our server was great. He was from Italy and has a daughter named Eliana. Crazy! He was very helpful and friendly, and immediately brought out bread and avocado for Eliana so she could start her dinner. When I went to put Eliana into her high chair, I bonked her head on the table. She started screaming. This set the mood for the rest of our meal.

Even though almost every appetizer contained mozzarella, Jeff elected for us to share the Bruschetta con Pomodoro - bruschetta with tomatoes and capers. I wasn't impressed. Instead of being done on crustinis, it was done on a grilled flatbread. The bruschetta mixture didn't have a lot of flavor. As bruschetta usually is, it was messy, but because of the large flatbread pieces, it was messier than usual. Why didn't we get a mozzarella appetizer??? Those sounded great.

For my entree, I had Papperdelle con Speck. Speck is a type of pig product, mostly like prosciutto but harder. At least, that's how it was in this dish. There were also artichokes and peas, and it was done in a cream sauce. My dish was good, but it was WAY TOO RICH for me. I ate a third of it, and physically couldn't eat anymore.

Jeff ordered the Lasagna Bolognese. When it came out, it was very plain - just a small piece of lasagna on an otherwise empty plate. It wasn't as thick as I was expecting. I didn't try any, but Jeff thought it was good, much lighter than a traditional lasagna. He unfortunately had to quickly finish his dinner (again) because Eliana was sick and tired of sitting. This actually ended up being our worst night out at dinner for her :(  Lots of crying and fussing. I think after the long car ride, she was done.

After dinner, we decided to go to Ghirardelli to give Eliana a treat after all her hard work (and we needed a treat too!!!). Now, we were talking the right language! An unsuccessful dinner turned into a very successful dessert :)  When we walked in, they gave me their new flavor of salted caramel chocolate square to try. I recommend it. For ice cream, I had vanilla with dark chocolate fudge - Yum! Eliana had plain vanilla - Yum! Jeff had Rocky Road - Yum! Good ice cream can make everything better. The women who weren't working there weren't overly friendly, but we didn't care. Our evening had taken a turn for the better.