Dining Out in Style

This weekend Vince & I have treated ourselves to several nice restaurants. The first was on Friday night. We ventured to Outback Steakhouse. They have remodeled and have a brand new menu (plus we had a buy one get one free entree coupon). We both had steaks cooked on their new woodfire grill. Vince added scallops to his entree. I had 1/2 a steak & 1/2 my sweet potato left over so he enjoyed it for lunch on Saturday as well.

On Saturday night, we were both treated to a free dinner courtesy of my work, thanking me for all the hard work I put in on the United Way campaign. We were invited to dine at the Piedmont Club in downtown Spartanburg. I had been for lunch one time, but never to dinner, so it was a new treat for both of us. We had reservations at 7pm for the casual dining room. The casual dining room meant collared shirt & jacket for the men (no tie). No jeans, t-shirt, shorts, and so on were allowed at the club. We dressed up & headed downtown. Our dinner started out with bread and homemade crackers served with a side of caper and olive relish. Our next course was soup for me (ham & black bean) and for Vince, fried green tomatoes with crab stack. It was really big with chunks of crab meat, blue cheese, and sauce piled in between the fried green tomatoes.

For my main entree, I ordered the filet mignon with a portobello mushroom, mashed potatoes & veggies. Vince ordered the lobster tail. The filet was very good. The lobster was really tiny. It was smaller than his appetizer. It was two pieces (each about the size of a large shrimp) that had been battered & fried. He had mashed potatoes and slaw. My veggies included a strange looking green thing with greens attached to it. The waitress said it was bokchoy. I had never had bokchoy, but I don't like cabbage so I gave it to Vince. He didn't much like it either. He did however, enjoy his teeny lobster and 1/2 of my steak and the portobello mushroom.

For dessert, I ordered the creme brulee with strawberries. Vince ordered the key lime pie shaped like a pyramid with chocolate on top. I was so stuffed that I only ate a couple of bites of mine & one bite of his. They were both excellent.

So overall, it was a wonderful meal and a great way to spend an evening. In the large room next to the dining room we were in, was a huge wedding reception with about 300 people. So the parking lot got very full and the party was in full swing by the time we left. Upon leaving, I noticed an old, little, wooden cabin right behind the Episcopal church. Not sure what the signifance or history is about that structure, but it was neat seeing it in the middle of downtown.

After church today, we ventured to our 3rd great restaurant of the weekend...Wades! I ate ham, sweet potatoes, and green beans. There is only one word to sum up all the great foods this weekend: Yum!