We went to Tartine for dinner on Tuesday night to find out the sex of our baby.
No, this isn’t a new service offered by the newly opened Rocky River wine bar and cafe. Instead, we had the technician at the ultra sound earlier in the day write down the sex and seal it in an envelope for us to open at dinner later that night. We wanted to find out the sex in a way that was more us, and this was definitely it.
Tartine itself is rather simple, small and narrow, but a great space overall. I especially liked its location nestled on Old Detroit Road, the tin ceiling, brick wall and wine display above the bar. The patio out front is charming, too, and I liked it even better when they opened all the doors separating the restaurant from the patio.
We started off with drinks: prosecco for Jamie (which turned into three) and a very enjoyable glass of Barbera d’ Alba for me.
For our meal, we started off with the medjool dates with goat cheese, lardons and port wine; the grilled pita served with chickpea and kalamata olive spreads; followed by the roasted mussels with white beans, moutarde Dijon and wine for me and the roasted chicken sandwich with apples Swiss cheese and raspberry aioli for Jamie. For dessert, he went for the flourless chocolate cake with port wine syrup while I opted for a selection of three cheeses: Taleggio, Saint Andre and Prima Donna.
Overall, everything was incredibly delicious. Hands-down favorites would be the spreads and easily the dates. The dates were so good that we both acknowledged that they might be better than “the” dates at Avec - but both of us were hesitant to actually state that out loud. So we settled with the fact that they are both winners, but each offers a very different taste and overall approach. These dates were incredible though, and the goat cheese is what made is memorable. My only complaint is that the dates were too small.
I also really enjoyed by mussels, about a pound in total. The sauce and beans were tasty and you could clearly taste the Dijon, but it wasn’t overpowering. Jamie also liked his sandwich, but he was a little disappointed that the apples didn’t have more of a prominent taste.
As for our desserts, again both winners. I did manage to sneak a bite of his cake and it was unbelievable. Again, the only compliant here was that it was too small. As for my cheese, I enjoyed all three, especially the Taleggio. And a nice presentation overall with the grape salad, candied nuts and several cracker choices.
This place will surely do well and we will gladly be back. In fact, we joked about going last night just for the dates! And I did manage to say hi to Chef Nolan on our way out and he seems to be doing really well in his new digs and by all the smiling faces in the packed restaurant, they seem happy to have him there, too.
By the way, we are having a girl!
[...] throughout the entire duration of a pregnancy to find out the sex is simply baffling to me. So just like our last pregnancy, we had the technician write down the sex of the baby and seal it in an envelope. We took that [...]