Graham Elliot

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To celebrate our first six months of marriage we decided to go to Graham Elliot for dinner. Of all of the fantastic restaurants we've dined at during our relationship, this had been on our list since we first started talking. The clouds were gorgeous so I snapped a pick from the car while we were heading downtown. We were greeted by a blue haired hostess in a retro cat dress with lined tights and yellow moccasins. I really didn't know what to expect going in, but they threw me off kilter from the start.

The dining room and bar are all one shared space with beautiful huge windows looking out on the quiet street. Our server was incredibly well dressed and mannered. They brought out popcorn with truffle oil and Parmesan. It was divine. And perfect to snack on while we picked drinks. I failed to take pictures of the cocktails, but they were well balanced and yummy to boot. I had a drink with green and yellow chartreuse, old toms gin, and mint. Wil started with a whiskey cocktail and then moved on to red wine.

The menu is set up as a la carte on the left with the categories Hot, Cold, Sea, Land, and Sweet. And then there are three tasting menus on the right. One with 5 courses (one of each category), one with 10 (two of each) and a full tour which includes everything on the menu, 15 courses. Normally I'd go with a tasting menu, but they each had something I knew would upset my stomach, so we opted to build our own. We shared one from each the Hot and Cold lists, I ordered something from the Sea menu, and he from the Land and we shared a Sweet finish of strawberries with white balsamic.

They brought out two other tastes for us, a shot of watermelon with jalapeno which was quite flavorful, and Foie-lipops. Foie gras on a lollipop stick with pop rocks. I think this was my favorite dish of the evening. Wil had never experience pop rocks before, it's criminal, I know.

All in all the food was good, nothing was really shocking or mind boggling. We had a lovely time together, but I think next time we'll spend the money at Schwa, the Bristol or the Publican.