Dinner and a Show to Celebrate

Using Open Table to make a reservation, my husband and I celebrated our anniversary by having our first nice meal out with our highchair bandit in tow. We treated ourselves to a lovely meal at Campanile, and oh was it good. We made our reservation for 6, which is when they open. However, traffic was a bit of an issue as one of the streets we took was blocked off (caution tape, police officers, police cars blocking several blocks...very unsettling). So we took a detour, but we were definitely running late. I didn't have the restaurant's phone number, so I tried 1(800)GOOG-411, but after two attempts, I gave up. So I texted "Campanile Los Angeles" to 46645(GOOGL), and they texted back the phone number within a minute...free and quick. It doesn't any get better than that.

They thanked me for calling, and even better, they held our table. Once we got there, they seated us and we got our drinks. They make a killer mojito. Since it was already 6:30, we decided quickly to get the ball rolling. We had an arsenal of toys and snacks, so we were ready, but no point in delaying the inevitable. He had a few teensy pieces of bread, which he seemed to love (mouth wide open waiting for more). He also really took to my starter (see below), which was precious. It made me wish I'd gotten more ravioli ;-)

MetaMommy had:
Appetizer - Green garbanzo puree ravioli roasted cherry tomatoes and spring onions - Garbanzo in ravioli is delicious. There's a creaminess that isn't heavy...I'll definitely try this one day if I ever get into making my own pasta.

Entree - Copper River salmon en papillote with sweet corn, roasted porcinis, pancetta, dry vermouth, and garlic butter - En papillote means cooked in parchment paper, which it was. A lovely presentation, and a great way to cook fish. Incredibly flavorful overall.

Dessert - Cream biscuits with wild huckleberry compote & creme fraiche ice cream - Comfort food at it's best, though the creme fraiche ice cream was a nice twist.

MetaDaddy had:
Appetizer - Greek salad with heirloom tomatoes, sliced cucumbers, kalamata olives, fresh goats cheese - Gourmet version of a delicious salad. I'm surprised he didn't go for something a bit more exotic, but you never know with him ;-)

Entree - Roasted pork chop with saffron onions, braised cabbage, bacon, and saba - There was an unexpected bit of honey in the sauce, but it was still pretty darn good. Saba, which we pondered, is apparently a vinegar. You learn something new every day.

Cheese Course - A glass of port with a some fine aged blue cheese and a firm white portugese cow's milk cheese - Loved the blue cheese, though the firm white cheese was a bit strong for me. It was sharp like a goat's cheese, which I've never been fond of.

MetaSon had:
Appetizer - Some of mommy's garbanzo puree and a little ravioli

Entree - Homemade mix of lentils, zucchini, and butternut squash

Dessert #1 - Mashed banana

Dessert #2 - A taste of huckleberry compote



The whole time, we had to entertain our lad, but he wasn't too disruptive at all. We did suspect him of larsony when it seemed like he was going for the busboy's wallet, but we stopped him in time. Towards the end he got a bit more vocal, but not too bad. Even better, we didn't get any rude looks or comments from anyone. The staff was very nice and accomodating (we were offered both crayons and a sippy cup). Better still, there were at least two other young children in the restaurant while we were there. While we might have assumed that upscalre restaurants generally aren't kid friendly as a rule, I now know anyplace is capable of being a good place to go with well behaved kids. The well behaved part...well, therein lies the challenge.

We wrapped up at about 8PM, happy to have gotten a nice evening out, and happy to have been able to share it with our big, bad 10 month old.