Out to lunch

We went out to lunch with our gourmande club yesterday. We drove 2 hours in the rain to get to the beautiful Napa Valley where we had reservations here:

First we ordered temptations. I could make a meal of these bites. They are sooooo good.

I always go for the soup first. It was cold and wet outside and this cream of cauliflower soup was nice and warm.

Then we tasted this mushroom pate on corn chips. Just your basic Super Bowl snack. Riiiiight.

These beef short ribs were prepared to melt-in-your-mouth perfection

I love calamari. This had a spicy sauce. Although it looks like it, I'm pretty sure it wasn't Velveeta.

This is endive with a dab of catfish/potato souffle topped with caviar. Oh my, scrummy!

Then we moved on to the starters.

The Lord of the Manor ordered this starter. I think this was the only disappointing dish. It was French Onion Soup topped with a Gruyere cheese souffle. I think we prefer the simpler version without the souffle topping.

I had the butternut squash soup with pumpkin seed and roasted poblano salsa. I think this was the best starter on the table although Kim's organic apple salad was pretty good too. (We always share tastes.)

Here's my entree; Caraway Crusted Pork Shank with sauerkraut and sage spatzle. It was quite good, but LOM says his hanger steak was better.

And then we moved on to the best part: dessert. This is poached pear with madeleine and creme fraiche sorbet. Notice all the forks trying to get in there?

And this is molten lava cake with vanilla bean ice cream. I could have eaten that all by myself. Heaven on a plate!

We also had the classic creme brulee. One can never go wrong ordering this. What a sweet ending to a perfect meal.