Date Night: La Boqueria - Flatiron District, NY - Thursday, 8/28/2014

Her Take: August 29th is my birthday, so Nicky said he wanted to surprise me with a place to take me out to dinner! :) :) :) He always does a good job at picking places so I was excited!
Thursday, I rush home from school, get ready and meet Nicky and then hop right back on the train to the mystery place. Turns out he had TWO options so he said left or right?? We decided to go left but sadly saw that the first place, La Bota, was closed down, so we walked to the other option, (thankfully they were near each other!) La Boqueria. Both places Nicky had in mind were Spanish Tapas bars/restaurants which, if you've never had tapas, means that its basically a whole menu of appetizer sized dishes, so you would order a bunch to pick on!  We got to La Boqueria and saw that there was a wait, we went in and the hostess told us there would be a 30-45 minute wait, we said "sure!" and waited outside on a bench. Luckily, we only waited about 20 minutes, which wasn't bad at all! We walked in, the restaurant is quite small, no wonder it gets packed so quickly and believe me when I say packed, I mean PACKED! We were lead to a cute two-top towards the back of the spot and I took the "booth" side (for once!)
What I liked about La Boqueria, right off the bat, was that there were allll types of people in there. It wasn't just a restaurant for a younger scene, or just hipsters, or just older people; the crowd was very diverse and I think that's what makes the place welcoming! There are people of all kinds, from all different places and couples ranging from first dates, to married dates- and there were we, right in the middle. :)
My only complaint about La Boqueria would be that the noise level is a BIT too loud, hey I'm no grumpy old man complaining about noise, believe me I like noise, but in a nice place like this that has a great "date" atmosphere, you want to be able to hear/speak to your date! I felt like Nicky and I didn't speak, we had to scream over the din and music just to have a conversation. If it was just a little less loud in there it would have been perfect!
We looked over the drinks first and I saw they had Sangria de Mora, Blackberry Sangria, and we were sold, we got a pitcher of it and not only was the pitcher was bigger than we expected, the sangria was delicious, probably one of the best we've had!! We had picked out 7 things that really caught our eyes, so we got them all! Remember, tapas are like appetizers, so we aren't just really fat and eating the whole menu! (but we probably could have done that anyway..) We ordered the Maiz Rustido, a special that night, which was roasted corn, lime segments, with smoked pimenton oil and manchego cheese melted on top! It was AMAZING! Nicky's favorite dish! We ordered chorizo and Idiazabal cheese which is made out of sheeps milk, is semi-hard, buttery and lightly smoked. The cheese was really, really good and the chorizo was cut thinly, like sopressata, I liked it but Nicky didn't "enjoy" it. I'm proud of him for trying it though! We also order Pan Tostado: which was basically toasted bread rubbed with tomato and garlic, Patatas Bravas: diced potatoes, fried and atop a spicy tomato sauce and drizzled with fresh cream, Bombas de Barceloneta: potato and beef croquettes that also came with that same "salsa brava" (spicy tomato sauce) and fresh cream, and last but not least we ordered the hanger steak which came with their version of chimichurri salsa! Everything was excellent, literally everything, I couldn't decide which dish was my favorite! They were all so tasty and full of different flavors, textures, spices! We loved it all, I loved it all, it was the perfect birthday dinner! After eating 7 dishes, that were pretty good portions, we decided NO dessert for us because we were full and satisfied! Our waitress was sweet and she didn't seem pushy, she didn't come over too frequently (which I like, especially if you're on a date and holding hands at the table) or rush us being there were people waiting for a table. The food came out perfectly timed - not all at once, it was two dishes at a time and when we finished on they brought the other a few minutes later; so it didn't seem like they were throwing food at us, it gave us time to digest a bit between dishes!
I really really enjoyed La Boqueria, it was a great place with great food, great service, a great atmosphere and I had a great date to take me ;) Really, Nicky, you did a great job!!
I highly recommend it to everyone! As I said, mixed crowd, so anyone fits in! I told my mom about it and she wants to go! I will definitely go back!!! And can't wait to!

His Take: Happy Birthday to my dearest Ariana!  Ariana’s birthday is here and I wanted to take her somewhere special, somewhere different, and most of all somewhere I knew (or hoped?) she would like.  I know Ariana loves Mexican, South American, and Latin food.  I did my homework and looked up places, trying to find the perfect one.  I stumbled across, La Boqueria, a tapas bar located on W. 19^th street, in the Flatiron district.  Boy am I glad I stumbled across this place, but well get to that in a second!  Tapas bars for those who do not know, are places that basically serve only small dishes, roughly the size of an appetizer.  The point is to share these dishes, and as you probably guessed it, Ariana and I ordered quite a things to share!

 

La Boqueria is a nice little place that the entrance starts narrow, and the place widens up in the back.  I called to make a reservation and was told that they only accept reservations for parties of 6 or more.  Ariana and I may eat for 6 people, but unfortunately we do not count as 6 people.  The lady over the phone told me every one else is first come first serve.  Ariana and I arrived to La Boqueria and walked in to see the hostess.  Great sign already was EVERY seat was full.  This included all the tables, as well as all the seats at the bar, La Boqueria was full to capacity of people eating and drinking.  The Hostess told us it was be about a half hour wait, so Ariana and I went outside and sat on the little bench right in front.  About 15-20 minutes later the Hostess came and got us.  Not bad of a wait at all!

 

La Boqueria’s menu was full of things Ariana and I wanted to try.  I think if we could have eaten everything, we would have ordered 1 of everything!  We decided to order a pitcher of Blackberry Sangria to start while we looked over the menu.  We finally settled on 7, yes SEVEN things to order.  We ordered the Idiazabal cheese (goat’s milk), a type of chorizo, bread with tomato paste and garlic oil, patatas bravas (fried potato pieces with crema fresca and a mildly spicey sauce), hangar steak over peppers, maiz rustido (corn with manchego cheese and lime), and bombas de barceloneta (meat and cheese croquettes with that same mild spicey sauce from before).  Sounds like a lot? Well it was, we had a tough time finishing everything because the portions were a very good size!  Let me tell you, everything we ordered was excellent.  Except for maybe the chorizo, I never had chorizo before, and I did not enjoy it, so that is just me personally.  La Boqueria’s food was delicious, and I could have eaten 50 plates of the maiz rustido, I absolutely loved it.  The service was great as well.

 

Ariana did not want me to tell the waitress that it was her birthday, BORING, so she got away with it.  La Boqueria you will be seeing me again, the tapas and the service were excellent.  Our waitress brought us a little of our food at a time so we got to eat and enjoy it.  We finished our pitcher of sangria and enjoyed an amazing dinner to celebrate Ariana’s birthday!  I hope you go to La Boqueria and enjoy it as much as I did!

 

Date Night: The Chester - Meatpacking District, NY - Saturday 6/28/2014

Her Take: I love the Meatpacking District. I have to say that right from the start. It's beautiful and hip and the new fashion spot and so different from the rest of the city. So I go there a lot and I walk around, and one night I went with two of my friends and we passed this cute corner bar/restaurant while walking. What caught our attention was the outdoor patio they have framing the corner of the block and the cool, funky music they were playing. This spot was The Chester, located in the Gansevoort Hotel.

I thought to myself that I had to go to this place! (to write you guys a blog on it :)) So I kept it in the back of my mind and decided to plan out a Date Night. Lee and Dan wanted to go out before Lee left for Florida so I suggested we all do dinner in Meatpacking .. ;)
I picked a couple of places, one of which being The Chester, and left it up to them to decide where they wanted to go. They picked The Chester!! (obviously) It was meant to be, we had to try that place out.
I made the reservation for 4 at 7:00 on a Saturday night and we were all excited. That's when things started to go awry Lee told me that Dan was fixing up his car and didn't think they would be done in time to come meet us, but she would let me know. Hm..
I had to go visit my newborn baby cousin and everyone knows that when you visit family, you're gonna be there till late! So I decided to change our reservation to 7:30 (just incase) Then while at my cousin's house, Lee told me they wouldn't be able to make it so I went ahead and changed the reservation again to 2 people instead and for 8 o'clock because it was already 6 and we were all still there!!
Anyway, turns out I changed the reservation ONE MORE TIME (3 times!!) to 8:15 because at 7:45 I was still on my way home. I rushed home changed and Nicky and I jumped on the train. Luckily, Meatpacking is only 6 stops away on the L and we get there in max 10 mins! And that we did. We walked to the hostess outside and I told her we were here and if there was no available outdoor seating, it was ok. But she was very nice and said that they had reserved a table for us right outside. We took a corner two-top and the night, the view, the place was all perfect. We looked at the drink menu and they has special cocktails for the World Cup which I thought was very cute! We both order caipirihnas ! I love those, but these weren't the best. They were very strong and not sweet enough.
We ordered right away (which is a first) We started with the cheese plate; the cheese plate came so beautifully decorated with cut up apples and plated to be shaped like flowers, that I didn't wanna eat it! Just kidding, I DEFINITELY did. It came with about 4 different cheeses (brie, parmigiano, and I wasn't sure of the other two..), honey, jam, apples and crackers! It was SO good, great starter!
For entrees we both got steaks; Nicky ordered the NY Strip with a side of Truffle Fries and I the Marinated Skirt Steak in mango sauce and on a bed of chorizo. Now normally I'm not crazy about skirt steak because of the after taste, but this steak was GREAT, I couldn't taste any aftertaste, they cooked it perfectly! And the mango sauce was soo good! Only thing is I couldn't really taste the chorizo. Nicky didn't let me try any of his steak so I assume that meant that it was really good!! He said he liked it!

After slowly finishing our dinner, we hung out outside and watched the sunset; it was amazing. We had great conversations and had a wonderful night. We were there for a few hours and the waitress didn't bother us! We ordered another round of drinks and sat there soaking in the scenery, the people, the music and each other. A man walked by and dropped off two roses on the table and said "for the beautiful lady" and walked away, I was flattered until he walked right back and said "1 for $10 2 for $20 for the homeless! LOL At first Nicky was like I don't want it... ok i'll take one!! :) We left happy and satisfied with our meal and we decided to take a walk because it was such a beautiful night, we walked under the highline (must do a highline post) and walked past the stores and bars until we reached the train station. We figured "lets walk to Union Square" because it was that nice of a night! And we did! we walked and finally took the train home to meet up with Nicky's cousins for a few more drinks.. :)

GO TO MEATPACKING!!!! And try The Chester, I promise you, you will love it, not only for the food, but the scenery as well! The restaurant itself is really nicely set up! Plus, you get to dress up a little bit and look great while eating great food and feeling great!
I'll see ya there!

His Take: So Ariana loves, LOVES, the Meat Packing District in NYC!  She has been suggesting that we find a place here to go because she always has a good time in the Meat Packing District.  After looking over some menus, we settled on The Chester.  The Chester is located right underneath the Gansevoort hotel.  We made a reservation for 8:15, to enjoy a nice late dinner and a drink or two.  We dressed really nice, Ariana looked great by the way, and we hopped on the train and headed over!

The Chester is a really nice place!  Since it was a beautiful summer evening, we decided to sit outside rather than inside.  This was the perfect choice, as the weather was absolutely perfect outside!  We sat at a corner table outside just the two of us and got right into the drink menu!  We started with some caipirinhas.  I did not like mine, it was a little too strong (go on call me a whimp, but this drink was wayyyyyy too strong for a dinner drink) and there was not enough sweetener added to it, so it was too sour!  I have had caipirinhas before, and I really enjoy them, they are a good summery drink!  Ariana and I decided to start off with a cheese plate for appetizers.  We did not want to make the mistake this time of ordered too may appetizers and not enjoying our main course.  The cheese plate was displayed beautifully, and it was excellent.  The plate came with three different cheeses, which were all great, I knew one was parmigiano, I was not sure which the other two were, as the menu says it is the "chef's selection."  Not only did the dish come with cheeses, it had crackers as well as apples, blueberries, and raspberries, plus a like dipping jam!  I ate an entire apple along with my cheeses!  On to the entree, Ariana ordered the skirt steak that was marinated in a mango sauce on top of chorizo hash, and I ordered the strip steak with a side of truffle fries for Ariana and I to split!  Ariana enjoyed her steak, and mine was great as well.  The portion was a nice size and the steak and fries were tastey!  After eating Ariana and I decided to order another drink and just hang out and chat.  This time I went with a red sangria which was much much better!  We sat and drank and talked and as we did the sun began to set.  I know I know it sounds really cliche but this added to the mood as the sky is really nice while the sun sets.  A random street peddler came over and put two roses on our table and walked away.  He goes "for the pretty lady" and then a minute later he came back and said " 1 for $5 2 for $10!"  This man knows how to hustle! But he was right, of course I had to get a rose for the pretty lady, so I took one!

The Chester was really busy but they were nice enough to let us take our time with our food and drinks and let Ariana and I sit there without feeling rush or pressured to order more!  The set up was really nice and I suggest you check it out! Be warned, the Chester,and the Meat Packing District as a whole is a little more expensive than your average dinner and drinks in the city!  But it was very well worth it, especially if you had a great time like I did.  After dinner we walked around a bit and continued our great date! We plotted our next move and headed back to our neighborhood to meet some friends for drinks!  What more can you ask for? A great night out in the city, then enjoying afterwards with some friends, this is what date night is all about!  Ariana and I will head back to the Meat Packing district again, so if you are at the Chester after reading this, look out for us!

Handsome Nicky

Caipirinha

Cheese Plate beautiful Presentation

 NY Strip and Truffle Fries

Mango Marinated Skirt Steak

Date Night: Nitehawk Cinemas - Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY - Thursday 6/12/2014

Her Take: I had been wanting to check out Nitehawk for a while now, maybe about a year? Nicky had been there with his friend, Carter, to watch "Killing Me Softly" and he told me that it was a cool experience.
I was seeing the advertisements for James Franco's movie Palo Alto all over, which made me want to go see it! I saw that it was playing at Nitehawk so I quickly told Nicky that we had to go! So we did :) Thursday night, the 7:30 screening.
We walked to Nitehawk, it isn't too bad of a walk unless its SUPER humid out, which it was, so we immediately said "walking was a bad idea." We arrived at Nitehawk sweaty and sticky, but we arrived nonetheless. It was 7 o'clock and Nicky had purchased tickets in advance so the bartender printed them out for us. Yes, I meant bartender. Let me tell you a bit about Nitehawk. It is a movie theater that plays not-your-usual-movies. They play foreign films, indie movies, oldies and a selected few movies that play in regular theaters; but in Nitehawk, you get DINNER AND A MOVIE! DINNER!! The theaters all have a small table per couple with a small menu sticking out in the front of the table and small pieces of paper and a pencil on each side of the triangular table so if you decide you want to order more food during the movie, you just write it down and stand it up on a metal coil attached to the table. A waitress comes around pre-film to take your order. They have a full bar and a delicious selection of food such as sandwiches, salads and appetizers!
We walked to our theater, theater 3, and took our seats in the front row. This theater only had 3 rows with about 5 tables in each row. The screen isn't your typical movie theater screen size, its more like a big screen tv someone has in a home size, so sitting in the front row wasn't as bad as you were thinking. We quickly picked up the menu and of course I wanted everything. We ordered our drinks first because I couldn't decide what to eat yet. I got their version of a Dark & Stormy and Nicky got a Miller High Life. Finally we decided to just order a couple of apps: the cheese fritters which were small cheese balls that were filled with cheese (obviously) and chorizo with chipotle aioli drizzled on top. (That was my choice) and Nicky ordered the steak skewers that came with chimichurri sauce and homefries. They were both really really good! I loved my fritters! Surprisingly we filled up on that.

Now onto the movie. It wasn't really what I expected. I was expecting better due to all the "hype" it got all over social media and Nicky and I read the description of it, and it didn't really sum up the story line. I mean it SORT OF did, but the movie didn't have a well-drawn out, strongly stated plot. It was just alright. I guess the movie's point was to show the generation of today and how it really is to live as a teenager? It wasn't the worst movie, but it was a little depressing in my opinion. I watched the entire thing with a look  of confusion on my face. But hey if you like "teenage-angst-it's-so-hard-being-a-virgin-everyone-does-drugs" movies, go watch it!

Anyway, after we left Nitehawk a little frazzled, we decided to walk yet again, and we stopped by the Roebling Tea Room; another place I've been wanting to go to. We sat at the bar and got a drink Nicky asked the bartender for a beer suggestion and the bartender served him a Kronenbourg and I got some cocktail with tequila, raspberries and spicy salt; my kinda drink. It is a cute place with nice Victorian looking wall paper and woodsy decor. It was cute. Its a bar/restaurant and the food others were eating smelled so good. We walked around the place and discovered that it was bigger than we thought! They have a back room which also has cute little wooden tables and candles and they also have a patio! I would like to go back to sit out in the patio, it was precious. We only had one drink here and we sipped slowly and chatted and enjoyed the end of the night.

Nitehawk was AWESOME I would definitely go back and I most definitely recommend it to all of you. But be sure to go in even numbers since its one table per two chairs and also go early (it fills fast!) you don't want to end up sitting alone on the other side of the theater while your two friends enjoy the movie together! As for Palo Alto, I am gonna let you decide on that movie, and let us know what you thought.
and the Roebling Tea Room, we will be seeing you soon!!

His Take:  Movie dates, a fairly common and popular thing among those who date!  Here I’ll spare you the movie review and talk more about Nitehawk Theater.  Firstly Ariana wanted to see Palo Alto, a James Franco movie (she finds him so “hot” in her words, but hey he’s no ME!) based off a book he wrote “Palo Alto stories” or something like that.  I had never heard of either the book or the movie, but when it comes to movies ill watch anything that is not a sappy love story, because frankly those are incredibly boring!  Movie was a solid movie, nothing special, although I think now I’d give the book a try.

Any who, back to Nitehawk.  So if you’re not familiar with Nitehawk, it is a movie theater with a full bar, and food service, that you can order before and during your movie! I know what you’re thinking, “how uncomfortable to sit with plates of or drinks throughout a movie”, well no, each of the seats are separated in pairs and each pair conveniently has a small table shaped like a pool table rack for you to sit comfortably and eat and drink!  The ordering is pretty cool too, you write your order on a piece of paper, provided to you at the table along with a pencil, and whenever you’re ready to order, you stand the paper up in its “holder” or whatever it’s called!  It stands up letting the waiter/waitress know “hey I am ready to order!”  The waiter/waitress does an excellent job of sneaking and ducking back and forth to not get in the way of the movie.  Pretty cool huh! The waiter/waitress also lets you know they will be closing out your tab 30 minutes before the movie.

As for our Nitehawk experience, Ariana ordered a mix drink and I a Miller High Life.  We looked over the menu, and frankly we wanted everything!  To name a few, we wanted the nachos, the tator tots, the popcorn, the quesadilla, etc. etc. etc.  We ended up settling on the Chorizo and Cheese balls (Ariana’s choice, which she loved) and the Skirt Steak Skewers that had chimi churi sauce and came with some diced potatoes.  The Skirt Steak Skewers were delicious!  We struggled hard not to order the nachos, but we should have!

Not your standard movie theater, and the ticket prices are the same as a regular movie!  Nitehawk is awesome, also their schedule is different.  They play old school movies, new movies, and indie films!  Check out their calendar and head over and there.  I suggest getting the tickets in advance as they do not have many show times.  Also get to your seats in advance, depending on the theater your movie is playing in, some of the seats are limited!  I know I will head back, it’s a great way to see a movie!

Date Night: Il Mulino - Taj Mahal - Atlantic City, NJ - Tuesday, 4/15/2014

Her Take: We finally went back to Atlantic City and I was sooooo happy! Much needed trip! Anyway,  we wanted to extend our anniversary and wanted to go to a nice restaurant to celebrate again in a more romantic setting. Nicky told me he wanted to take me to Il Mulino because he really liked it and knew I would too. So we made a reservation on Open Table and Nicky wrote "anniversary dinner" as a special note. When we went down they told us that we had actually made the reservation for the fine dining section so they walked us (next door) to the right place. We could definitely see the difference; the lighting was a bit dimmer, the tables had tablecloths, the glasses all set up and the tables were all candlelit. Also, the waiters were all dressed up with bowties and nice tuxedos. The hostess quickly took us to a nice round table against a wall but what was weird was that she did not give us menus. (hmmm?)
The first of our waiters quickly came over with a huge wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano and with his cheese knife and gave us each a nice piece. He then offered to take a picture of us with the cheese because he saw how excited we were! Right after he asked if we wanted a cocktail to drink and we said sure! I ordered a rum and pineapple (not rum and coke because I had given sweets and junk up for lent) and Nicky a vodka and sprite.
Once he left, another server came over and dropped a plate of thin zucchini "chips" that were drizzled in oil and garlic. I LOVE THOSE!! And then another server came, dropped off sopressata, and offered us bruschetta (yummm), I said of course and Nicky said no thank you. Right after that man left, ANOTHER one came over and dropped off spicy garlic bread, regular bread and focaccia. I was so excited, we hadn't even ordered yet and food just kept coming!! We got our drinks and we cheered "to us." We ate and ate (and unfortunately I couldn't taste too much because I was sick and stuffy, I was PISSED) and were a bit confused because we had never been to a restaurant like this, plus we didn't even have a menu! I was like "Nicky, what if they just give us whatever food they want?" and he was like "they can't do that what if we don't like something??" I was really confused and for some reason, nervous, so I told him to google Il Mulino and see what it said!! HAHA! we're so embarrassing! But just as he was about to, our second waiter came and asked how we were enjoying our complementary antipasti and asked if we wanted to wait a little bit or if we would like the menu. Ah-ha! There we go, our question was answered! *phew* We said yes we'll take a look at the menu now, acting all nonchalant as if we knew what was going on. When he gave them to us and left, we died laughing.
To be honest I was already pretty full from all the food they had given us, and you know me I HAD to eat it. But you can't NOT eat at a beautiful, fancy restaurant like this, you can't make them think you only came for the complementary appetizers and say "ok thanks see ya next time!" NO! So we decided on having a bowl of Tortellini in brodo each, I wanted the pollo encrusto and Nicky spaghettini carbonara. When the waiter came to take our order, Nicky asked if they had meatballs (which he had had last time in the other side of the restaurant) and the waiter said that if we wanted an order of meatballs, he could make that happen! So we got an order of meatballs, two tortellini, one chicken dish and one pasta dish!
I don't know where we thought we were gonna fit all the food we had just ordered because we were both already filling up, but we couldn't stop eating. Anyway, we got our soup first so we could take our time and drink on it slowly, I wish I could have tasted :( the tortellini I couldn't taste at all but the soup felt good for my throat and Nicky said it was really good! Then we got our meatballs, which came 3 to an order. I could vaguely taste them but from what I could gather, they were yummy! after having a meatball each, we were already exploding! The waiter came and asked us how we were doing and I guess our faces told him how full we were and he laughed and said he'd give us some time to digest before our entrees came out. YES, THANK YOU!
We sipped on our drinks and held hands and chatted about how great this place was; I have to say I was very impressed. Just then our entrees came out. My pollo encrusto was a huge breaded chicken cutlet in lemon, white wine sauce. It was very good, but just too big for me! I had to take a break and sit there for a while. I cut small pieces and ate little by little, I think I ate a good amount before I literally could not eat any more.
The waiter came over and saw we were done and we did a pretty good job! He asked if we wanted any dessert or coffee and I said I'll have a tea please! Nicky got an espresso. They also said that they give complementary grappa or limoncello and asked which we'd prefer and I said we'd take two grappas perfavore! They brought over a beautiful wooden tea box so I could choose which tea I wanted! I chose pomegranate green tea. They brought over a little pot of hot water, Nicky' espresso and the grappa. Not long after, they came over with a cheesecake and fruit with a candle and they sang happy anniversary to us! We had forgotten that we had mentioned it on Open table! They sang so nice and everybody in the restaurant clapped for us! We said thank you and one waiter said "What? No kiss?!! Come on!!" So we kissed and they clapped  :))) It was so sweet and made me so happy! We picked at it, I ate the fruit and whipped cream since I couldn't eat dessert and Nicky had a little of the cheese cake! It was very sweet of them! So many complementary things, and they were so good to us! (we left them a niceeeee tip ;)) We had the grappa, well I had it, Nicky didn't like it (too strong for him haha) But I understood; grappa is grain alcohol with a high proof so it is very strong.

I have to say that I was incredibly impressed with Il Mulino. The ambiance and atmosphere was amazing and beautiful, the service was perfect, the food was delicious, their restaurant mission is very well portrayed through their impeccable staff, food, presence and mannerisms. In my opinion, Il Mulino was the best dinner date that we have had! They we excellent I have absolutely no complaints except that I'm a little upset that I couldn't taste everything 100% but its ok, it only means that we'll have to go back :)))

His Take:  Ariana and I decided while we were in Atlantic City that we would go out somewhere nice to eat.  I had mentioned to her that I had eaten in Il Mulino at the Taj Mahal before and that I really enjoyed it.  That’s all it took to convince her.  We made our reservation using open table, and I added a special note that it was anniversary dinner (because Virgil’s as you know was no anniversary enough for me).  We arrived at Il Mulino and were immediately seated and greeted.  Il Mulino is set up beautifully.  This is truly a great romantic date spot.  The tables were set up with flowers and candles and it really set the mood we were looking for.  Immediately after we were seated, one of our waiters, yes we had two, came over with a giant wedge of Parmeggiano cheese.  My eyes lit up when I saw this.  I LOVE PARMEGGIANO CHEESE.  Our waiter sliced us both a healthy size piece right from the giant wedge, but mind you I probably could have eaten the whole thing.  We ordered our drinks, I a vodka and sprite and Ariana I believe a rum and pineapple juice. Next our waiters provided us with some bruschetta (toasted bread with diced tomatoes that are seasoned), some fried zucchini slices that were cut into chips, a few slices of salami, and three different types of bread.  We literally feasted on these and then realized, we had not even got our menus yet!  We wondered if maybe Il Mulino forgot or was just going to serve us until we could not eat any more (not a bad thing).  On cue our waiter brought over our menus and asked us if we enjoyed their complimentary foods while we waited.  Yes, complimentary foods, as in FREE.  Not only was this first wave of food free, but it was absolutely delicious.  Our waiter also told us if there was anything we did not see on the menu, we should inquire about it and he would try to accommodate us.  Last time I was at Il Mulino, the same one in Taj Mahal, just the other side of the restaurant, I tried their meatballs and they were amazing, so I wanted them again!  I did not see them on the menu, so I asked our waiter and he told me it would not be a problem.  Ariana and I also ordered a Tortellini in chicken broth each as an appetizer.  Our waiter was kind enough to suggest bringing just the soups first before the meatballs.  What an excellent idea. The tortellini in chicken broth soups were just as excellent as everything else!  And it was a great size portion, ordering one each was the way to go.  Plus the soup was perfect because Ariana was not feeling so well.  The soup was tasty, and I love tortellini soup! Next came the meatballs! Ariana and I enjoyed our three meatballs (sorry there is only one in the photo, we forgot to take a picture before diving in).  These meatballs were just as good as the ones I remembered eating last time.  For our entrees, Ariana ordered a Lemon Chicken and I ordered Spaghetti Carbonara.  I tried Ariana’s chicken and it was delicious and very lemon-y!  Mind you her piece of chicken breast was pretty big.  Now onto my dish! Spaghetti Carbonara is one of my favorite dishes.  It is spaghetti served with pancetta, onions, cheese, and egg.  I was excited when I saw the amount of cheese in this dish as well as adding more.  Il Mulino made my Spaghetti Carbonara perfect.  I really enjoyed it.  Ariana liked her chicken, but could not finish it because she ate most of the complimentary food.  When our waiter asked us if we wanted desserts he was shocked to hear us say no, but understood that we ate a lot.  He asked us if we wanted any coffee or after dinner drinks.  I ordered an espresso and Ariana a tea.  Pretty standard espresso for me, but Ariana was brought out a tea box and let her choose her own tea!  I thought this was pretty cool.  Ariana also suggested we order a Grappa each, which is an Italian after dinner drink.  I had heard of Grappa before and could have sworn I had it, but after tasting it I was pretty sure I did not.  I did not like Grappa!  Remember how I mentioned I had put in the note on open table that this was our anniversary dinner?  Well Il Mulino served us a complimentary (more free!!) cheese cake slice and they sang anniversary!  We were surprised by this and it was an overall nice cap on dinner. 

Il Mulino was truly the perfect date.  The place was great, the service was excellent, and the food was even better.  There are two other Il Mulino’s in New York and I promise you I will not hesitate to go back at some point in the future.  Il Mulino might have been the best place Ariana and I have been to.  I loved everything about Il Mulino.  Head over there and you have my word that you will not be disappointed.