Christina & Kent are having twins on Thursday. And Kent has two broken elbows. Cracks me up every time I think about it. Yes, I’m a bad friend. Worst part? Kent broke his own elbows! Riding his bike into work one morning. But he’s feeling better and as they’re relishing these last few days of freedom, we met up for a leisurely dinner at Aquitaine, the restaurant that will forever be know after this as The Sweat Locker.
Because Aquitaine was HOT. It was okay at first, with a cook trickle of air conditioning making it up to our table at the front of the restaurant on occasion. But around the time our starters arrived, a table of four arrived and asked that the restaurant open the doors to the street. The staff (and I believe the chef herself) had already starting opening the doors when they turned and asked us, “You don’t mind if we open these, do you? It should cool things down a bit.” Well, firstly…we did mind. But the horse was already out of the barn. Secondly, anyone who has studied anything remotely related to science will know that when it is 95 degrees outside and you open a window, it will become warmer inside.
Sigh.
Christina and I split an extremely generous “petit” tart to start. I’m afraid to ask what the grande looks like, because this was the size of a baby’s head. Made of portabella mushroom, sundried tomato, and goat cheese, it was badly in need of seasoning.
Better was the mustard porkchop. That was some porky pig because this too was a very generous serving. (At $24, I’m glad it was.) I did not do this dish justice, even though it was a pretty excellent juicy pork chop and I am a fan of all things mustard. The seasonal vegetables seemed a bit catering college to me, but really they were fine. We were all so hot though that we asked for the check as soon as my plate was cleared and headed across the street to Dairy Queen to cool down.
The Verdict: The Sweat Locker — I mean Aquitaine — is probably that sort of restaurant that lots of locals like. So if you live in the neighborhood, maybe you should go there. When it’s not too hot outside.
