Tonight's Dinner: May 7, 2014

Tonight was our official closing on our house!  Nick and I were originally going to celebrate this night together, but decided that we wanted to share this special moment with our parents since they had such a big hand in our home buying process.  Nick has been talking about this small place in Concord called 54 Mint.  They also have a location in San Francisco and just opened a bakery in Walnut Creek last week.  I don't know how many times we've put off going here just be we're tired or don't want to go out once we get home.  I'm so glad that we finally went.  The food was so amazing and the waiters were extremely friendly and helpful.  It sounds snooty, but I haven't been to a place that I've truly been impressed by for a while.  The places we go to are good, but 54 Mint was really good. I was impressed as soon as the manager opened our wine and described the dinner specials.  After one visit, we practically know his life story.  Seriously.

On to the food.  I'll do a formal review on Yelp later on.  This is my new favorite date place so I'm sure you'll hear much gushing in the future. I won't disclose prices, but for six people with appetizers, corking fee, and dessert, it was a really reasonable price.  Nick and I have paid much more for "famous" places that we were less satisfied by.

They gave not one, but two generous baskets of house made bread.  So good. 

Baby octopus and potato salad.  This is a warm dish with very bold flavors. 

Fried calamari.  I'm not normally a fried calamari person, but I know that my parents really enjoy it.  This calamari is so fresh that the seafood was alive just hours before fore it was cooked.  It made a difference because it was delicious. 

Burrata with proscuitto

My father-in-law got the fish special, which was a filet of perch over potatoes. 

Nick got the giant slab of pork belly.

The rest of us got the seafood pasta special.  All of their pastas and breads are house made and it really shows.  The pasta was so delicate and flavorful. 

Panna Cotta

Tiramisu