Capital Grille in the Back Bay

Thank God for Restaurant Week or I would have never been to this fabulous place this past weekend.

When I called to make a reservation, I initially knew that Restaurant Week at Capital Grille was not being done on Saturdays. I called the restaurant about 3x that day to make a reservation and when I finally got one for 9:30PM Saturday evening I acted naive and said we were going to partake in restaurant week. The host put me on hold and a man came on and said, "Danielle, we will honor restaurant week tonight for you," I was pumped and called one of my dining guest, Sandra as soon as I got the news.

Anyways, restaurant week is $33 for an appetizer, entree, and desert. Usually just an entree at Capital Grille is easily over 30$. We walked in around the exact time our reservation was and waited about 7minutes to beseated. Lets be honest, for a classy place with an amazing review, they placed us in a ghetto area in the dining room.

Thankfully, the warm bread arrived instantly and the service was five stars.

We took part in the Master Wine Restaurant Tasting event which is six tastings (but, the woman saw three girls who wanted to potentially have an amazing night and was quite generous on the tastings) for only $25!

Some of the wines we tasted were $20 a glass and one was even $100 a bottle. We began tasting our meals and then sipping the wine to see the contrast but once the desert came, everything seemed to be the same.

Still amazing.

We all started with the standard salad, I got the Salmon and Sandra, and my other dining guest, Anya (dined at Sonsie with) ordered the Steak. We also all ordered the chocolate Gelato which was not much of a Gelato but Chocolate ice cream AND again, the wine took over all our taste buds at that point of the dining experience.

Essentially, we had six wonderful glasses of whites and reds that complimented both our meals and our motives that night.

We all had to pay about $57 each but decided to tip the server $15 each so it was a bit more.

Lets be honest, the server hooked us up and we trusted her to pick out the wines and take us on the journey to a wonderful dining experience.

In the end, we can confidently say with no embarrassment that Sandra, Anya and I Closed Capital Grille.

We left with about 18 empty glasses on the table a photo shoot on Anya's camera and a developed photo from the Capital Grille digital Camera.

We left Capital Grille around 12:15AM (yeah we did!). We made it to one bar on Boylston and went home. I was still on a high all day Sunday from the wonderful dinner, company, and beverages the prior evening.

I think the server could have been my personal assistant on wine and dining on a budget. She knew what she was talking about and honored our ambitious personalities to dine well and drink cheap. In the end, we drank cheap but imbibed elegant wine that we would have never considered before!

Lesson: refer to prior lesson, gooooooooo restaurant Week!!!!!

Morton's Steakhouse on the Waterfront in Boston

Wait, aren't I* a Vegetarian? Yes, but I* do love a filet of Salmon with the right sauce and looking at the RESTAURANT'S WEEK Pre Fixe menu for Morton's was too divine to have it pass me by.

My two roomies minus ex-roomie Courtney are Jenny and Penny (Penelope). These two girls were my dining guests for the evening.

The evening started out fabulous because I parallel parked and did not have to pay 30$ for a Paid Parking Area underground, woo!woo!

Although, it took longer than I thought it would to be seated at 6:30pm on a Wednesday we were served bread, given water, and thrown the wine menu (if anyone were too throw something at me... a wine menu would be the best thing. Thoughts?)

I usually do not order Red's but figured a light Pinot Noir would compliment my filet of Salmon perfectly. Too no one's amazement, it did!

Anyways the starters were a choice of salads and we all decided to order different entrees: Chicken, Steak, and Salmon.

The waiter was from Brazil but did not have an accent (was he thinking we would give him a better tip?)

Side Note: I love America. Independence day is my favorite holiday of the year it is better than my Birthday, New Years and Christmas combined (I stole that quote from Stewert- Harbor Springs pal). 

Back: The waitor also refused for there to be a bread crumb on the table and kept coming over every 20mintues to check if we were being sloppy.

Long Story Short: Everyone was thrilled with the entrees and ordered the Chocolate Mouse rather than the Cheesecake for desert. Was I impressed? NO but, I do get weak in the knees when something has any form of chocolate in it.

If it have not been restaurant week in Boston our bill would have been $125 more than what it was, true story. 

Lesson: GOOO Restaurant Week.

CHANNEL CAFE, South Boston

Channel Cafe is a must to do after work or if you have a restuarant.com gift certificate.

It was a very artsy and chill way to dine.

They have after work specials Thursday through Saturday 5pm to 7pm... Draft Beer with Burger and the works for only 10$.

(in this case, I would love the beer because there house white wine was too difficult to swallow... I honestly got sick off it because it was so cheap, and I usually imbibe like cheap wine like H2O)

Andrew and the ex-ex- rooms, Courtney ordered there desired Burgers and I ordered the Veggie Burger. 

All these Burgers came with the works... and if you have ever eaten a burger, you know the standard "works". 

The SWEET SWEEET SWEEEEEET POTATO french fries and spicy Mayo was like a party on cocaine in my mouth. It was wild. I love tangy spicy sauce. I think I had more of this spicy mayo dressing than anything else on my plate.

Maybe, that is why I got sick?

Lesson: Although you might hate a condiment (such as MAYO)never hurts to try...you might be impressed. 

FORBIDDEN CITY in DOWNTOWN NYC

I have been to Forbidden City before and decided to take my party of eight along with me before heading into a crazy night.

We were honoring the arrival of Michigan's finest, John Ramer. Have you heard of him?

My sister was judging the name and assumed I* was picking a Chinese Restaurant and insisted the food would be so greasy that no one could even think about dancing and getting up and down in da' bar of choice.

She was wrong, clearly and ate most of my entree along with hers.

Since, our party was so large, I could not view most of the meals my dining guests had.

I was at the head of the table... I had Marina, my favorite SLU friend on my right, and the boyfriend, Andrew on the Left (who was looking at his blackberry for most of the evening and refreshing some score on espn.com).

Initially, we were the only ones in the restaurant and it was awkward because there were no beats playing.

The waitress made up for this (which she did not have to because we walked into an amazing Happy Hour, with Impressive designed beverages...AMAZING) by handing us all Tequila shots on the house after our meals.

Anyways, I the food I saw around me and both tasted were the Salad with Ginger Dressing, The Spicy Calamari, and the Veggie Dumplings. Everything was light and fresh and perfect. I wanted to highfive the waitress every-time she brought out a new plate.

Lesson: Do Not Judge a Restaurant by its Name.

CaFetRiA on Newbury St

After being educated on art at the Copley Society my new dining guest, Sandra and myself decided to wonder down to 279 Newbury St.

I went on Caferteria's website prior to making my initial steps into the small area. At the instant I* walked into the restaurant, it was love at first site, especially since the BAR was larger than the Dining Area.

Sandra ordered a Burger and I got my non-adventurous typical, Salad de Caesar with Tomatoes. 

I also ordered a unique side dish: Blue Cheese and Fig Jam. Honestly. That was on the menu.

It was fabulous and made me overlook the salad I had ordered for my entree. 

I only wish the wine we chose was a Riesling because the blue cheese would have tasted even better!

I also look forward to stopping back into Cafeteria and partake in its array of both interesting and visually appealing cocktails...

Lesson:

Awkward combinations make for the best combinations