Tuesday at Tavern

Terry and I love to take opportunities to celebrate. From anniversaries and birthdays to mini-milestones and just getting through a rough week, we try to acknowledge the positive aspects of life. Sometimes we'll plan a fun day out, make an unusual purchase, go on a vacation, or enjoy a fancy dinner at home. On Sunday, we toasted some recognition that Terry received at work. Then, tonight, Terry took me out to celebrate the fact that I reached 10,000 page views on BLWB.

So, thanks to you readers, I got to go to a fancy dinner at Tavern! We live very close to Tavern, so after a workout, we snazzied (<--new word!) ourselves up and headed out. Before we left, though, we started in on a bottle of Frank Family Zinfandel, one of my very favorite wines (Ashley, we thought of you!). Instead of paying the $25 corkage fee (ouch!), we drank a glass of wine each before dinner and are enjoying the rest as I write this. *Tip!* (<--I wish a little *ding!* could go off right there. Interactive blogging, the future of the Internet.) During dinner, Terry ordered one cocktail (something with bourbon and apple and ginger) while I stuck with water.

Much needed mid-week date night

Dinner really was delicious. Tavern only has valet parking, unless you want to brave the streets of Brentwood, which you don't, but their service charge is only $4.50. We had a reservation and were seated right away. The interior of the restaurant is particularly unique; the ceiling is a giant skylight, and there are two big trees inside. Bonus: We recognized the gentleman next to us as a UCLA professor. Go Bruins!

The atmosphere was relaxed and very much an after-work crowd. We were served sourdough bread with butter and sea salt. Amazing! So simple, and yet heavenly. Terry ordered an appetizer with albacore crudo, which tasted great, along with his cocktail.

Bread + butter + sea salt

For dinner, I had the short ribs "bourguignon" and Terry had the Devil's chicken. Both were good, cooked well, but not the highlight of the experience.

Messy but pretty good

Dessert, on the other hand, was a revelation. I don't always order dessert at restaurants, contrary to what you might think, because my family never really did the dessert thing when we went out to dinner. Mom usually just put out a few cookies when we got home, which was perfect after a big meal. But since we were celebrating, I ordered us the "Snickers" bar - chocolate and salted caramel peanuts and vanilla ice cream.

There it is

We enjoyed the whole experience at Tavern and would recommend it, but we would probably each try a different entree next time. And yes, for those wondering, it was the restaurant where President Obama held one of his fundraiser dinners a few months ago. We didn't have to pay $35,000 per plate, though. Suckas.

Some of our other favorite fancy restaurants:

• The Grill on the Alley (multiple locations)
• Flemming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (multiple locations)
• Il Cielo (Beverly Hills)
• Sushi on the Rock (San Diego)

I'd like to suggest for all of you to pass along my link so I can convince Terry that we should frequent these restaurants more. :-)

Thanks very much for reading; what we really celebrated tonight was the fact that, while it's still new and has a long way to go, this little blog is growing! So thanks for reading, tweeting, Facebooking, linking, G+ing, commenting, and discussing. You make this little hobby of mine a whole lot more fun!

I promise to post tomorrow about my super duper sweaty workout today and some killer abs, too. Get excited! For now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of this glass of wine before getting to bed early. Morning workout tomorrow!