Easter Dinner: Sperry's

      Man I feel like I haven't posted anything since the Regan Administration, and damn it feels good to be back! Alright to elaborate on the small little post from the other day, my family (grandma included) and I went to dinner at Sperry's...scratch that it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon. For me, eating at 4 o'clock in the afternoon on a Sunday is usually called "breakfast". When my parents say were eating an "early dinner" its just code for, "plan on being starving again by 9pm". This was not the case, however, because we all ate like it was a death row final meal. Thank god I wasn't picking up that tab...

Me: Hi I would like to make a withdrawl
Bank Teller: Sure, how much would you like to withdraw today?
Me: Everything I have...

      No matter what, my mom and grandma always argue over who is picking up the bill (I don't know if I should be disclosing that information, but whatever). I don't ever want to imagine being in a position where I have to argue to pick up a bill like that...essentially I can relate it to when you land on Boardwalk in Monopoly, and there's that fat red hotel staring you in the face. You all know the feeling when you have to liquidate all your assets (mortgaging off Baltic Ave just to survive is never a good feeling). With that being said this was definitely not the type of restaurant that jacks up their prices because they have all sorts of sauces and reductions resembling a modern art painting (SPOILER ALERT: 90% of the time they use squirt bottles...)
      Everything was fairly priced, and the food was so good that it didn't need to be hidden behind all that mumbo jumbo. To clarify, I enjoy all that mumbo jumbo sometimes because I feel it shows the chef really takes pride in his artwork rather than just plopping everything together on a plate. But still, its refreshing to see that amazing food doesn't need all that, just amazing ingredients paired well together. Okay I'm getting away from myself here (when you don't blog for a while it kinda just spews out). 
      The restaurant was nice and quiet because we arrived right after the brunch rush. This was ideal because our server was able to talk to us for a while, and well...just generally take care of us. I do not know how else to explain it, but its nice when your server isn't swamped, gets to chat for a while, and makes you feel at home. Too many times, I've had servers who run around with that "I have 20 tables because the other server called in sick, please don't hate me" expression on their face. While on the subject, for all of you who take it out on your server when the service is poor: Shut up and eat your free bread! Its almost always not their fault....
      Since this is a food blog and not a Hemingway novel, lets talk some food here people! For starters the menu was just front and back, which I love. Nothing is worse than choosing something on a menu that is longer than a list of Charlie Sheen's bad deeds (Hi, welcome to the Cheesecake Factory!). Usually I skip the appetizer stage and just go straight for the entree, but everything on the menu made my mouth water like a Pavlovian dog! As an appetizer I immediately chose beef carpaccio, because its not everyday you get to eat beef carpaccio...If your wondering what beef carpaccio is exactly: it is thinly sliced pieces of raw fish, or meat: such as beef and or veal, pounded paper thin. This carpaccio was beef by the way.
       Most of you will be wondering, that if raw meat can get you sick, then how is it possible to eat thin slices of raw meat? Well what it all boils down to is the fact that bacteria cannot penetrate to the inside of the meat. So for my steak, they thinly slice pieces from the inside of the cut of meat. Think of it as eating Blowfish the way they do in Japan. The blowfish has a poisonous part on its body and if that part is not removed by the sushi chef it can be deadly. In the case of both the blowfish and my carpaccio, they are prepared by professionals so it is safe to eat. Circling the beef was a ring of reggiano shards, and drops of horseradish aioli. Top it with capers and baby ariugula, and what do you have?....uh alright I can't think of anything, just that its super awesome.       Other appetizers on the table were crab cakes, which I tried and were phenomenal, lobster bisque, salads, etc. Free bread = Pop-overs, whaaaaaatttt???

      Now moving onto the entree, let me start off by saying I'm usually a sucker for duck and lamb when I go to a nice place because I don't usually get to cook with them on my own. Naturally I saw duck breast on the menu and immediately went right for it. The duck had an ancho BBQ glaze an came with jalapeno grits, crispy onion straws (I think) and sauteed veggies. It was hands down the best duck I have ever had. Sometimes duck can be real fatty (duck is fatty by nature so theirs not much ya can do) but this duck was perfeccccttt!

      When it was all said and done I was already stuffed but I felt...compelled to see what they had for dessert since they were wowing me all day. 9 times out of 10 I skip dessert mainly because I physically cant eat any more. Everyone else was ordering dessert so I figured what the hell, monkey see monkey do right? Did I really squeeze in a "monkey see monkey do"? I'm sorry about that...it'll never happen again

      Side note: When our server brought out the desserts she whispered to me "you picked the best one". I think she was right, just look at that craftsmanship!! Alright that's it, I'll have more posts up soon. Peace.