What I Ate Wednesday #59: Ten Years Gone

I mentioned on Friday that Nathan and I were going out to Birroteca for dinner to celebrate 10 years together. We had heard so many fantastic things about this restaurant and decided this was the perfect time to cross it off of our bucket list [more on that later!] and I’m so glad we did. Every dish was absolutely wonderful! I think we might be experts on the menu now because we went all out!

Drinks

We got to the restaurant a little early so we took advantage of their happy hour drink specials. Wine for me, beer for him. The cocktail list looked awesome but we were waiting until we were seated for that.

His

Andrea Gail – Blackwell Spiced Rum, Ginger Beer, Boston Bittahs’

Hers

St. Germain, Sparkling Wine, Grapefruit

Cheers!

Appetizers

We couldn’t decide on one appetizer to split, so we had to get our own. They all sounded so good!

His

Italian Wedding Soup

I know, it doesn’t sound so exciting, but those tiny meatballs were packed with flavor! The broth had a little bit of a kick, the tomatoes were so fresh, and the barley had the perfect bite. I’d never had Italian wedding soup before, but this would have me coming back again!

Hers

Chopped Tuscan Kale, Heirloom Beets, Pumpkin Seeds, Radishes, Gala Apples, Apple Vinaigrette

Again, it may not sound like the most exciting appetizer, but the flavors blended so well. And that vinaigrette was something special. I’m definitely going to be trying to recreate it at home!

Veggies

No more his and hers. From this point on, we shared everything!

Crispy Brussels Sprouts with Black Garlic Aioli

Whenever I heard anything about Birroteca, the crispy brussels were always mentioned. And how could I say no to brussels sprouts?! The aioli was so flavorful, you only needed a little on each bite and we were pleasantly surprised to find slices of salami throughout!

Eggplant Fries with Red Pepper-Caper Mayo

We hadn’t planned on getting the eggplant fries, but when we saw an order come out we knew we had to try them! Again, the aioli was packed with flavor and we were using it for everything! The eggplant was breaded and the crust stayed nice and crispy, even when we reheated them!

Entrees

Pasta

Homemade Pappardelle with Wild Boar Bolognese

If we’ve learned anything in the past few months, it’s that we must order homemade pasta whenever we see it on the menu. And with a wild boar bolognese? Like there was any doubt!

The dish was a bit saucier than I had expected from other meat sauces we’ve had in the past. The sauce was also thinner than I expected too, but we loved it nonetheless. The chunks of wild boar were tender and the homemade pasta was cooked perfectly.

Pizza

Duck Duck Goose – Duck Confit, Fig-Onion Jam, Balsamic, Fontina & Asiago, Duck Egg

Oooooh the pizza! The crust was soft but not too chewy. The fig-onion jam mixed with the balsamic gave the pizza a little barbeque flavor. The duck confit was meaty and rich, but didn’t overpower the rest of the flavors. The fontina and asiago mix was flavorful so the pizza didn’t need a lot of cheese. And what’s better than topping all of that with a nice, dippy egg?! It just made it feel extra special.

Dessert

Gluten-Free Apple and Pumpkin Cake, Pistachio Ice Cream, Toasted Pepitas, Pistachio Butter

I told Nathan that I was “comfortably full” before dessert came out knowing that would probably change! He said to me “it’s gluten-free so it’s good for you, right?” Luckily I knew he was joking. I took one bite, looked at him and said “yea. Tell me that’s healthy!”

It was so amazingly worth every single bite! The cake, topped with an apple ring, was so buttery and rich. The simple flavors were set off by the nuttiness of the pistachio ice cream and creamy pistachio butter.

Knowing that we were going all out, we planned ahead and got food boxed up as the next dishes were brought to the table. I’m sure people were laughing at our tower of boxes!

HELLOOOOOOOO LEFTOVERS!

But I bet they wouldn’t be laughing when they realized we got to have an awesome lunch on Sunday 😉

Best. Lunch. Ever.

I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate 10 years with Nathan. We gushed over all of the food the whole night, even after we left the restaurant. It was so fun experiencing something new with him again and it was almost like taking another little trip back to Italy. Any reminder of the honeymoon is a good time in our book!

Food for Thought

If you had to choose one dish from our menu, which would you choose?

Do you ever go out to dinner with big plans of trying wayyy more than you know you can eat, knowing you’ll take home leftovers?

A Marvelous Weekend

Don’t forget to enter my Chobani giveaway!

I’m definitely sad to see my 4-day weekend go, but it ended on the right note. This past weekend was just what I needed!

After running a few errands on Saturday, we decided to hit up the movie theater to see This Is The End but not before a little lunch. Nathan has been raving about porchetta since we went to Italy so I did a little googling and found Isabella’s in Little Italy. Everything I read about this place from the amazing porchetta sandwich, to the tiny area to eat [all of 4 tables], to the super friendly service was on point. And while the porchetta sandwich wasn’t the same as Italy, Nathan was still quite pleased. I, of course, went for the Greek Salad with grilled chicken and it was awesome! The homemade feta was my favorite part.

Greek salad with grilled chicken and homemade feta

Off to the movies! One of my favorite things about our theater downtown is that they have a full bar. It comes in handy when you go to see a movie like This Is The End.. not recommended. But at least it got us out of the house and out of the sun on a scorcher of a day! And I had a super tasty cocktail. Check out that top-notch pic! 😉

St. Germain Elderflower Liquer, blueberries, strawberries, white cranberry juice, and soda water

After a quick run to Whole Foods for sparkling water and figs [the essentials], we vegged at home and watched The Amazing Spiderman on demand. Another winner.. though, it was definitely better than the movie that we paid for! We got lazy and I whipped up a little egg white scramble for dinner which turned out to be pretty awesome! Awesome enough that I repeated it yesterday for lunch.

Egg whites, broccoli, corn, kale, cheddar cheese, avocado, tomatillo salsa, and a little sriracha

Sunday ended up being a bit of later start for us.. I got up and did one of my favorite Tone It Up cardio routines, Bikini Cardio. We were going to head to the farmers’ market, but I needed some food in my belly so I chowed down on my go-to breakfast—oats with egg whites & TVP, topped with Sunbutter, coconut peanut spread, and my homemade pumpkin seed butter.

By the time we got ourselves together to head out, it was 10:30. On our walk over, we decided it was hot, late [for the market], and there would be tons of people there, so we detoured over to Teavolve. Nathan grabbed a bite to eat and I got a delicious matcha green tea smoothie. I had only tried it once before, but it was just as marvelous as I remembered. Matcha powder is so pricey though, I just can’t bring myself to bite the bullet and get some to have at home.

We found ourselves around the corner from Whole Foods again, so we ran in to pick up a few things for some serious food prep when we got home, including these gorgeous beets!

How cool are these beets?!

We got down to business and Nathan was cooking up a storm!

He’s really been jonesing for some good Italian food like we had on the honeymoon, so he made a Tuscan-style ragu. It’s delicious and perfect to serve over pasta, quinoa, salad.. anything really! He also grilled up a flank steak which is going to be great  for sandwiches and salads all week. I roasted my beets which, unfortunately, were not as gorgeous as they were raw. I also made some easy kimchi that I found from Brittany [can’t wait to taste it later this week!], Israeli salad [cucumber, tomato, red onion, lemon, EVOO, & dill], grilled buffalo tofu for my salads, and for dinner I grilled some chicken with buffalo sauce.. plenty of leftovers there too.

We’re set for the week! Lunches and dinners are going to be so quick and easy. It really does wonders to set aside a few hours on Sunday to cook up some food for the week. Hope you have a marvelous Monday!

Food for Thought

Did you do any food prep over the weekend?

Are there any foods that you love but you won’t buy because of the price tag?