Throughout my childhood, my mom always referred to Friday night as “Friday night date night.”
Whether the date was with family, friends, significant others, or a jigsaw puzzle, it didn’t matter, it always sounded full of hope and fun. With Valentine’s Day falling on a Friday this year, you might make it an extra fun Friday night date night.
Valentine’s Day may be a Hallmark holiday, but the older I get, the more I am totally on board with any mechanism that gets us to stop and tell people we love them. I mean, there are worse things than a day devoted to spreading love and kindness. Just imagine the ripple effect. Gestures need not be grand: a small chocolate heart, a phone call to an old friend, a flower on your neighbor’s doorstep, or a heart cut out of pink construction paper with a sweet note is all it takes to brighten someone’s day.
That Feb. 14 is a Friday lends itself to even more hype, as now it can be a whole weekend lovefest. Perhaps you dine out on Friday night and dine in on Saturday night. I checked in with some of my favorite restaurants and their Valentine’s menus all sound amazing and feature classic romantic ingredients such as lobster, short ribs, champagne, chocolate, red velvet cake, and strawberries.
At Ruby’s, for instance, the menu includes lobster ravioli, chicken lemongrass dumplings, red velvet cake, and heart shaped donuts.
Rafele will tempt you with braised short ribs with mixed mushrooms on white polenta, veal ricotta parmesan meatballs with roasted tomato sauce and spinach puree, and Nutella crème brulee. Just typing “Nutella crème brulee” made my mouth water.
Next door at Gordito a few highlights are the cevice, which definitely falls in the aphrodisiac category, lobster enchilada with cilantro rice and chipotle sauce, and Mille Foglie which is a flaky puff pastry, with pastry cream and chocolate and strawberry sauce.
If you are looking for new adventure, I highly recommend Canoe, just down the road a bit in Greenwich, on Railroad Avenue. It has become a little home away from home. The food is creative, delicious and reasonable, the vibe is very chill and the service is friendly and professional. They will be featuring a prixe fixe menu at $89 which gets you a four-course meal. Some of the featured choices include lobster shooters, foie gras terrine, squid ink pasta with truffle champagne butter, and wild Iceland cod with Asian chili sauce.
If you choose to stay in, you might want to try this slightly decadent but super easy pork chop recipe with cheesy grits and sweet tomatoes. The different components make it seem fancier than it is, and the sweet tomatoes are perfect for this sweet occasion. If you do not love grits, you can simply substitute them with parmesan polenta, which is just as easy. I recommend anything chocolate for dessert and perhaps an espresso martini.
This culinary agenda should keep you busy from Friday night date night through the weekend. Have fun creating a big loving ripple effect all weekend and thanks to Hallmark for reminding us to do so.
