Sociale Climbing

In another of our seemingly never-ending celebrations, My Beloved and I were getting the impression that the restaurant we planned to visit was in a swishy neighborhood as we followed a very shiny new Maserati down the street. We needn't have worried, however, that we working stiffs wouldn't be welcome as we were headed for Sociale.

Sociale was a delight. Full stop. End of the dance. Terrific.

My pictures of our meal didn't turn out at all, but what the heck - when you eat this well, enjoy truly professional service and relax in a lovely setting, who cares if the blog photos are second rate?

How many restaurants have you visited where they serve two different kinds of bread, and both are delicious? Then, when we had wolfed down that serving, the waiter brought us a third different one, equally delicious and tempting! It's a little thing to change up the bread in mid-meal like that but it signals that every detail of the experience has been carefully considered. We knew we were in for a treat.

I started dinner with a wonderful house specialty drink, MentaLimone, a filtered lemonade flavored with mint, served in a stemmed glass with a mint leaf captured under the lemon wedge on the rim - a simple but lovely decoration that added fresh scent and a colorful touch. It was light, lively and slightly sweet, with neither flavor dominating the other.

MB's "Brick Chicken" was moist, caramelized, with oyster mushroom and roasted tomato-stuffed small red peppers tucked underneath. He reports that he has rarely enjoyed a chicken dish so much.

I wasn't terribly hungry, so I ordered two veggie sides, Brussels sprouts with little chanterelle mushrooms and a potato/artichoke torte with cheese layers. Rather than bring two awkward little dishes, as often happens when I order like this, the chef plated them beautifully together, embellishing with a little bright green pesto drizzle to accent the dish. Both were simply heavenly - the sprouts were lightly sauteed in olive oil and the mushrooms made an almost crispy accent,. The torte ingredients were unusual with layers of savory cheese in between and all the flavors well balanced in each bite.

We almost passed up dessert, but I was intrigued by the "Coffee and Donuts" wondering what at that wonderful place they would do with such a homely dessert. The donuts were freshly hand made, still hot when the dessert came to the table, one coated with fresh, shining dark chocolate sauce and the other a cinnamon-sugar donut.

OMG.

The "coffee" was an espresso milk shake, served in a smaller version of the classic "soda fountain" glass with two straws.

Yes, please.

Lest you think we spent a small fortune to be in such a toney neighborhood rubbing elbows with the Maserati crowd our entire bill, including MB's glass of chianti, appetizer of wild boar raviolis and after-dinner coffee, was 78 simoleans. Of course, we had to add a generous tip to that amount, because the service was also perfect, attentive and informative without being smothery.

If this is how the other half lives, I want to join them! I'm such a Sociale climber.