Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine's Day Dinner

Frank and I celebrated Valentine's Day with a outstanding dinner last Saturday at Cafe Ponte near Clearwater. I think this is the 3rd time I have posted about meals at Cafe Ponte, which I consider one of the best restaurants in the area. Since this was a special occasion and another excellent meal I opted for another post on Cafe Ponte.


We picked Saturday since Frank had to be out of town this week on business and we wanted a special dinner for an early Valentine's Day. Cafe Ponte delivered with their always good service, great food, and a nice decor. 


Our dinners included:


Amuse Bouche (Chris Ponte always opens the meal with a tasty amuse bouche, which was tasty but I can't remember what was included - oh well, we both enjoyed it).


Appetizer:
Roasted Beet Salad (Frank) with Goat Cheese Mousse 
Traditional Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail (Dick) with a trio of dipping sauces


Main Course:
Seared salmon (F) with a Bearnaise foam served over sauteed mushrooms and warm potato-bacon salad. I got to taste it and thought it was wonderful with the salmon cooked to a perfect medium rare.


Bouillabaisse  (D) which included shrimp, mussels, fish, calamari, scallops and potatoes in a Provencal style broth, with garlic aioli, and garlic and olive oil-saturated croustini on which to slather the tasty aioli for dipping in the broth.


Dessert:
Chocolate Souffle  (F) - intense chocolate flavor, warm and very moist.


Tarte Tatin (D) on a flaky pastry round covered in sliced baked apples served with Vanilla ice cream.


As usual, Cafe Ponte did not disappoint - a lovely meal all around.

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