DC Dining

I flew in to DC this afternoon for work. It was a great excuse to meet up with a few co-workers and try a Belgium restaurant I never made it to when I lived here. If you like mussels or fried brownies, get to Brasserie Beck stat.


The mussels were amazing, but photographed too dark. I went with the Mediterranean option and a mind blowing shallot and onion soup to start.

 A sparkling prickly pear cocktail was slightly strong, but went down smooth.

The dessert! Totally demolished. We split some fried brownies with rasberry and vanilla dipping sauce. I highly recommend this ending!

 Aaaaand what do you know, another stunning bathroom. I feel in love with the wall paper here. Reminds me of my old wallpaper in DC! See here and here.

Up tomorrow is Ray's the Third. I am going to be stuffed when I head back to Chicago!

Ruxbin Ladies Night

I am LOVING Chicago. Minus the winter weather it's an amazing city. That's where I've been the last 6 months; exploring Chi-town.

Tonight was a lovely evening with three of my friends. We went to Ruxbin, a phenomenal little hole in the wall in the Ukrainian Village. It's Michelin star quality at a great price. Oh, and it's BYOB. Very nice touch.

Up first, our cute little Pancake white wine BYOB. Sorry for the iPhone pics.

For apps, we had garlic fries (addicting) with Chipotle Aioli and a delicious flatbread with prosciutto, goat cheese and pear slices.

Here we all are with our entrees. It took some time to for the kitchen to get these all out, so the servers treated us to a tasty apple & plum salad that I forgot to take a picture of. Grace and Maureen both got the Short Ribs with ramen risotto. I stole a bite and it was heaven.

My entree: I couldn't pass up the Shrimp and Grits with mussels, sausage, polenta cake and everything else glutinous.

 My roomie made the brilliant decision to sample the vegetarian dish; tomato and eggplant parm. I had a sample and my taste buds exploded. It was that good.

And for dessert, the Rocky Road option was my favorite. Brownies, cherries, juniper ice cream, creme fraiche caramel, and cotton candy on top. I was a little greedy with my portions. :)

The other dessert we tried was the Pineapple Upside Down Cake. Not my favorite, but the coconut sorbet was unforgettable.

 Also unforgettable, the crazy bathroom. It was top notch. A crazy swivel door was how you got in, posters lined the walls and utensils made up the frames. I also had a little photo shoot.

Until next time, Ruxbin. You were great.