Rosa Mexicano

Happy Monday all! How was your weekend? Mine was very relaxing and fun. Shaun and I got lots done around the apartment on Saturday and Sunday, after a super fun and long overdo dinner with our great friends Nicole and Brandon.

I've told you that I don't go back to very many places over and over, but most of the time when we go out with these 2, we hit up Rosa Mexicano, a modern Mexican restaurant in Manhattan. We like the 18th Street location, just outside Union Square. It always turns into a long night of eating, drinking and catching up. I think Shaun and I are still recovering actually :)

Rosa is hip and fun and the food is delicious. Since we sat at our table for about 4 (!) hours, the food and drink floweth.

We started the evening with an order of fresh guacamole, made tableside, along with salty tortilla chips. I could have eaten this entire dish full on my own. It's creamy, fresh, flavorful and the perfect starter to a delish dinner.

 

While I am almost always a red wine drinker and Nikki went with the signature pomegranate margarita, the boys ordered their usual drink...tequila flights! I, for one, cannot stomach hard liquor anymore which is why red wine is always my go-to. The boys got down with the tequila tasting menu, and, as per usual, were very happy with their choices. And the cute little glass in the middle.

For dinner, I always order the same dish at Rosa. The carne asada! Skirt steak and Chihuaha cheese in a little, personalized skillet (I love anything in personalized portions like that!), fresh corn, rice and beans. This dish is always perfection. The steak was perfectly cooked to my liking (after I switched plates with Brandon), while the cheese added some saltiness and depth of flavor.

And as if that wasn't enough, Nikki and I decided to order a dessert for the table. We settled on churros with 3 dipping sauces...chocolate, caramel and raspberry! I have to admit, the surprise winner of this trio was the raspberry. The sweet + tart flavor against the sweet, crispy churro was pure bliss. Though Brandon proclaimed churros of the Six Flags persuasion to be superior, I think this was the perfect ending to our meal!

 

So there you have it. Our fun, overdue double date roundup at one of my favorite city spots. So what do you think? Do you have any restaurants that you visit again and again with certain people? What's your go-to drink?

Dessert Before Dinner

TGIT! Thank God it's Thursday! Am I right or am I right?

Last night I met my friend Nicole for girls night. We get together every month or so and usually go to the same place, The Dove Parlour, which we adore. You may remember my ravings about it here. Though we would pledge our allegiance to The DP, when we found out about Sweet Revenge, a beer, wine and...wait for it...cupcake bar in the Village, we just had to check it out. Since we meet directly after work, it meant wine and cupcakes for dinner!

Their happy hour special consists of a glass of wine and a cupcake for $10. Not a bad deal, considering many glasses of wine in a city bar are $10 on their own. I went with a glass of Pinot Noir and the Sweet Revenge cupcake, a peanut butter cake with chocolate ganache filling and pb frosting.

Nikki went with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a Dirty cupcake, a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate truffle.

It was a fun, tiny little place. My cupcake was not the best I've ever had, but I love this whole concept. By the time I arrived home at 9, however, my stomach was feeling like it needed something more substantial (and not completely sugar or alcohol laden). Though I'm always happy with a plate of crackers or carrots and hummus as a replacement dinner, Shaun swooped in and saved the day with one of his famous grilled cheese sandwiches! I devoured this while we caught up on Shameless from Sunday evening.

So that's how I ended up with dessert before dinner. Admittedly, this was not my healthiest night of eating (but that's what the treadmill is for, right?), but it was certainly fun :) So what about you? Do you ever eat dessert before dinner? Or, dessert instead of dinner?

Brunch at Lighthorse Tavern

As I mentioned yesterday, Shaun and I had a Sunday Funday Valentine's Day. A full day of hanging out and having fun. It's what any holiday should be, right? A few of you asked about The King's Speech, and I just want to say that for the record, we really liked this movie. It was just so fun. I've always been a Colin Firth fan and it was fun to see him in a different kind of role where he could really show his talent! We didn't know what to expect from this movie (and admittedly we both felt a little daunted by it before the movie) but we were really glad we picked this as our date day film :)

Before the moooovie, we decided that it would be fun to go out for brunch, rather than dinner. It's one of my favorite past times, after all. And that way, we could enjoy the night at home with a candlelit dinner. We picked Lighthorse Tavern, my absolute favorite restaurant in Jersey City. Though it's called a Tavern, don't be fooled by its moniker. Though it is casual, the food is upscale and absolutely out of this world. We've gone for a few dinners (their skirt steak is uh-mazing!) and always sit in the upstairs, overlooking this cuteness:

Though we hadn't ever gone for brunch, after spotting oysters, bourbon vanilla French toast, eggs Benedict and other delectables, we were pretty sure we were in for a whole lotta delicious. We started out our meal with some cocktails; mimosa for me, bloody mary for Shaun.

And since we share a love of oysters, these were a must. We ordered 6 oysters to share. They were cool, crisp, fresh and sweet. A bit of cocktail sauce made these pure seafood perfection. Oh and in case I wasn't already missing summer like it's my job, these little bits of summertime just solidified it.

You know there was no way I could pass up my ultimate favorite breakfast...pancakes! These were ricotta pancakes with a bit of blueberry compote and lemon ricotta. They were fluffy and super moist. And perhaps the best pancakes of all time. Just sayin'.

Shaun, always the savory man, ordered the special...eggs benedict over duck, rather than ham. A bit of truffle oil finished off the dish. Though it was rich, it was entirely fantastic.

Which made my non-pork eating Valentine pretty psyched.

I kinda liked it too.

It's no surprise that by the end, our plates looked like this.

Don't tell anyone.

So there it is. The tale of our favorite brunch to date and a couple of pancakes that I've been dreaming about for the last couple of days. Oh and the oysters weren't bad either. So what I want to know is: Do you like to go out for brunch or stay in? And bonus question: What good movies have you seen lately?