T Stands for When The Lights Go Out

We finished running errands late in the afternoon. Then Himself dropped the suggestion of going out to dinner. No cooking? I'm in! We debated about where to go. The Post Office Pub or The UxLocale. The Ux won the toss and as we were driving there, I got a ping from the electric company that a power outage occurred in town with some 2,000 homes effected. Our house was right in the middle of the outage map. 

Well, no electricity to cook so a perfect excuse to eat out.

I started with an unsweetened iced tea with lemon while we looked at the menu. So many choices. I was having a hard time deciding between Chicken Marsala or the Get Figgy with it: white base pizza, fig preserves, sliced tart apples, prosciutto, arugula, balsamic glaze

Then we saw Chef Elaine had two tasting menus offering small plates like an Italian fancy dinner. Soup, an appetizer, a pasta dish, or soup, an appetizer, a pasta dish, and a meat dish.

Tasting Menu 1

Tasting Menu 2

With Tasting Menu 2 I could didn't have to decide between two things. I could have them both, sort of

The restaurant was cozy and decorated for the season with paper stars and twinkling lights. Chef Elaine came over to say hello. She greets a lot of the guests, but it makes you feel special to have the chef take time away from her busy kitchen. 

For my soup, I ordered the Haddock Chowder with smoky bacon. Perfect for such a cold evening.

Now regular readers will know that Himself doesn't like to get in the act of my taking pictures of food. I had to laugh when he insisted I take pictures of his choices. For his soup, he chose the French Onion with Beef Marrow. He liked the fact that cheese was melted on the toast instead of on top of the soup. He said melted on the toast made it much easier to eat.

Don't you just love Chef Elaine's mis-matched china?

For his appetizer, he chose Crostini with Sautéed Mushrooms. I chose the Fig and Honey Ricotta Crostini. That took care of the Figgy pizza I wanted. 

My pasta choice was Tuscan Shrimp served over orecchiette (Little Ears in Italian).  This little pasta was my grandmother's signature pasta.

Every week Grandma made tons of them by hand. Only in the Italian dialect she spoke, we called them capellini (we pronounced it coopellini, Little Hats after the round, broad-brimmed hats the priests wore in Italy) We used to tease her that she made enough macaroni (pasta was an upscale word) every week to put the Prince Pasta Company out of business. 

So I not only got a delicious plate, but a warm, fuzzy, memory of my grandma.

I forgot to take a picture of the pasta dish Himself ordered. Sausage in Vodka sauce also over orecchiette.

We both got the Chicken Marsala for the entree. Now, Chef Elaine calls the tasting menu small plates, but honestly there was so much food, I only ate half of the Tuscan Shrimp and only managed a bite from Himself's Chicken Marsala. We got boxes to take the rest home.

There wasn't even any room to muscle down a Cannoli or two. We thought out of all the times we have eaten here, the items from the tasting menu were the best we had ever eaten. By the time we got home, the electricity was back on.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.