Debauchery

Went out last night with Lauren and Hendricks and had a grand ole time.

We started off the night at Abattoir with a 6pm reservation. The sun was up and the patio was empty, so we opted to sit out there next to the enclosed fireplace. We were drinking cocktails although I have no idea what was in mine. Since the apps are always top notch at Abattoir, we opted to stick to mainly the left side of the menu.

Although our waiter told us that we had to order all the courses together, when we said that we wanted probably eight to ten left side menu items, he said he would space them out. He totally lied. Everything came out on top of each other and it was a real battle for table space. Still, having a lot of food is never really a problem for a bunch of hungry people.

Since it's spring and asparagus season, we got the asparagus soup which was a cold delicious taste of spring. Not too thin, but not really thick, this soup was just delicious.

You can never go wrong with the potted chicken livers with foie gras. This remains my favorite dish. Eat it with some of the fresh bread... Mmmmmm. There is a creaminess, a lusciousness that you just don't get at most places. I'm sure it's due to all the butter.

We also got the potted duck rillettes which were good but really couldn't compare to the potted liver. I thought this could have used a little more contrast though how can you really contrast a pot of anything? So maybe just a little more salt for me.

A salad with arugula, fresh ricotta, and beets was rather good. The salad was lightly dressed and the ricotta had a light, deliciously lemony flavor.

The house sent out a complimentary plate of asparagus with ham and a poached egg. It's always nice to receive gifts from the kitchen but especially in asparagus season! This was very tasty.

There was also a pork terrine which was rather good. It's hard for me to pick out the individual taste right now but I remember liking it.

Also, our waiter had highly recommended the veal tongue but it was taken off the menu. Luckily, the kitchen said they could still make it. The veal tongue came in small squares that were so tender and flavorful. They must have braised it for a long time. It also came with cut rounds of a delicious creamy (and also really tender) sausage. Yum!

We also had the steak tartare, one of my general favorites. This one was not traditional and was made with soy. It was good and I had a lot of it, but I still miss the traditional.

There was also a baby lettuce salad with duck confit. I wasn't really a huge fan of this salad. The lettuce leaves, even for baby lettuce, were huge Bibb leaves that were barely dressed. The duck confit good as always but there was really no contrast to this salad. I thought it was kind of a bland plate.

Ah, I can't forget that we got the chicharrones Those arrived first. Crispy pork rinds! Although I admit I thought they were better last time so maybe we won't get them again.

After all that, we decided we could move on to dessert. We got the lemon pudding cake with buttermilk sorbet which was delicious. Also the Sweet Grass Dairy goat cheese cake which came topped with a cherry compote. I enjoyed this, but it didn't seem like anyone else liked it that much. That's okay, I got to finish the serving!

After dinner, it was still early, so we headed over to JCT Kitchen for a drink. We managed to find one under a heat lamp which was nice. Hendricks and Josh got cocktails off the menu but I got a Guinness because I didn't like how the cocktail menu looked. We didn't hang out here for long and I ended up chugging the last part of my beer before we left.

Oh, it was weird that they gave me a Guinness pint glass, but my Guinness only came up like 7/8 of the glass and the head wasn't the normal height. That was kind of weird... in a bad way.

So we moved on to 5 Seasons Westside. I've been to the Prado location a time or two: a fantastic AIWF beer dinner and then a not-so-stellar lunch. At this point, my fully tummy and chugged beer were not making me too happy so I stuck with water which seemed to offend our brewmaster server but oh well. We all seemed a bit munchy so Hendricks and Lauren got the spent bread.

Josh ordered some fries (which looked good on the plate of someone next to me) and then "expensive mushrooms under a brick". I have to admit that I got a little surly around here. I didn't feel great and some guy decided he wanted to continue leaning on and then kicking my chair. I was about to lash out when they finally decided they had to leave.

When the "expensive mushrooms under a brick" arrived, they were the most pathetic thing I have ever seen. First of all, we asked what kind of mushrooms they were using and the server, saying that he didn't like mushrooms, mumbled an incoherent answer. When the mushrooms arrived, they were all sliced up so they were completely unrecognizable but a small handful of these sliced mushrooms plus a couple enokis and then literally a brick placed on top of them until they were almost burnt. No fat, no flavor, no value at all. This was an absolute ripoff and disgusted. If you are going to use "expensive mushrooms" which we will assume means they are actually good quality, what the hell are you doing to them by burning them to a nasty crisp?

The pommes frites looked grease-logged when they arrived. They actually tasted good, but after the mushroom thing, they just did not look appealing to eat at all. And thank god they use a normal ketchup.

Man, I'm never going there again.

After all that, we left and went home. I went to bed immediately. A good night, though with a bad taste at the end.