Dinner Is Served

Last night, Tina organized a group of us to go to Blue Light Grill & Raw Bar for Charlottesville Restaurant Week.  For those of you who have never lived here, Restaurant Week is a week-long semi-annual event in which upscale eateries create three-course meals for the low price of $25 with an extra $1 going to a local charity (this year it's the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank), bringing the total advertised cost to $26.

For my 1st course, I had fried oysters in preserved lemon tartar sauce.  It was tasty, but I wish there were a way to make the breading crispier.  Frying it for any longer would probably have ruined the tenderness of the oyster, but hey, I've reserved the right to be picky about my food during Restaurant Week.  I also exchanged a fried oyster to try a few of the Prince Edward Island mussels in coconut milk, red curry, and lime juice that Lee ordered (not pictured).  To be honest, I think I enjoyed his appetizer a little more than my own.  Food envy, you win me!

For my 2nd course, I had to go with the jumbo lump crabcakes with jalapeno/hominy grits and green tomato relish.  This is where I think the Restaurant Week deal actually came into play.  While the menu said "crabcakes," I only received one (singular) crabcake on my plate.  I'll forgive them, though, because what this dish lacked in quantity it certainly made up for in quality.  Then again, I've never met a crabcake that I didn't love, so maybe I'm not the best judge.

What the meal lacked in quantity I also made up for with Wei's leftovers.  He had ordered the buccatini pasta with littleneck clams, white beans, local sausage, and spicy tomato broth.  Unfortunately, he was smart enough to finish off all of his clams and sausage before he gave the rest to me.  I can only attest to the deliciousness of the pasta, which certainly left me happy and sated the way only carbs can.  Personally, I thought that the spicy tomato broth could have used even more spice... but that's just me.

For my 3rd course, I ordered the dark chocolate terrine with blood orange sorbet and hazelnut brittle.  I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and I can't even remember the last time I ordered dessert at a restaurant, but how do you turn down something as delicious as this?  It was the richest thing I've ever tasted, and I'm pretty sure it's what tipped me from being "sated" to "stuffed."  I'm also not quite sure why it was delivered to me like below.  I'm going to blame Heidi, who must have stolen a bite of it before I got to snap a photo.

Of course, being stuffed is no reason to stop eating.  Greg didn't care for the rest of his Mexican Coke float with vanilla gelato and shaved chili-infused dark chocolate, so I gave it a try.  I couldn't finish it off for him, either, because it was basically a glass full of foam at that point.  I did enjoy the taste of the Mexican Coke, which is made from sugar cane and not corn syrup like its American counterpart.

All in all, a very worthwhile experience.  I washed my meal down with a Lagunitas A Little Sumpin' Sumpin' Ale, which the waitress accurately described as a mix between a wheat beer and an IPA.  Once you added in the cost of the drink, tax, and tip, my $26 meal came to a $40 total.  It was more than I had expected to pay, but that's always what happens with Restaurant Week.  Now I can finally cross Blue Light Grill & Raw Bar off of my list of Charlottesville restaurants to visit.  Honestly, I probably won't be going back anytime soon because of the exorbitant menu prices, but I'm glad that I'll always have memories of last night's delicious meal.