For my birthday, Dan surprised me with a dinner at Beckta, one of the city’s top restaurants.
It was a wonderful evening of indulgence in both fine food and fine wine. The restaurant is housed in an old house, and is small and cozy. It’s the kind of place where you get between-course treats compliments of the chef, where they refold your napkin when you leave to go to the washroom, and where instead of a basket of bread you get a bread girl who circulates between tables with a platter of tiny slices of delicious artisanal breads.
Dan often accuses me of being a foodie, and when I go to a place like this, I have to agree. I love good food. And Beckta didn’t disappoint. One thing that often strikes me at nicer restaurants is how small the portions seem – “It will never be enough!” you think. But it is! A big disappointment for me with most “average” restaurant visits is that I’m so stuffed after my meal, I never want to order dessert. Here, we shared an appetizer and both had desserts, and I was simply pleasantly full at the end of the evening. Yay for variety!
[I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures - they had some serious mood lighting (read - lack of light) going on, and I didn't want to be "that person" whose camera flash is going off every 5 seconds]
For the appetizer, we went all out and order the foie gras. Mmmmmm. It was the first time for both of us, and it was delicious! Incredibly filling, though, and so buttery/rich that it’s not something I would indulge in very often, even if the price tag wasn’t a deterrent.
Dan had the quail (cornish hen?), which came with a pork belly, beet salsa (I appreciated it way more than he did!), on a bed of greens which I can no longer remember (broccoli rabe?).
On the other hand, I went for the lobster, which came on a bed of delectable smooth polenta, mushrooms, and a balsamic-ey sauce. I really need to plan that trip out east, because I do love my lobster.
Remember how I said that we still had room for dessert? I had a holiday-themed eggnog crème brulée with caramelized chestnuts, while hubby had a sugar tart (which was probably the first time I really appreciated a sugar tart, as this one didn’t immediately make my teeth seize up) with powdered olive oil.
What is powdered olive oil, one might ask? We did as well! As far as the waiter could explain (after checking with the kitchen) it involved cornstarch, tapioca and olive oil… but I’m still not clear on the process.
I also had a whopping two glasses of wine, and they were both amazing (and previously unknown) – Beckta’s other claim to fame is as a wine bar, and it did not disappoint.
It’s definitely a place we’ll keep in mind for future special occasions, but sadly it is a bit on the expensive side for regular outings. I’ve also read that they have a sister restaurant named Play, run by the same people but billed as being more casual, so we may check that one out at some point as well.
We tried to see how many more she could get, but for some reason she didn’t want to. Guess she somehow already knows that 1 fiancé and 3 boyfriends is too much to juggle!!
