Last night I went to dinner with my mom, sis and good friend LJ. We had tickets to see an 8 o'clock show (A Christmas Story- the musical) and wanted to have dinner before. We chose Purple Cafe and Wine Bar downtown.
I really like Purple. The food is good, the options are plentiful and the wine is delightful.
First off, we had the BEST waiter- Chris. He was absolutely fantastic- witty and personable and had some great recommendations.
We started with the brandied apricot crostini, gorgonzola stuffed dates, feta and walnut spread and baked bouchon goat cheese with honey and cranberries. Theses starters are from the "tasting menu" and are $3-$6. My mom's favorite hands down was the baked goat cheese (Chris' recommendation). It was served in a little cast iron skillet, warm and melty, salty and sweet with a side of crisp crackers. We had to wrestle it from my mother who was still talking about it the next morning. My other favorite was the gorgonzola stuffed dates. The gorgonzola was piped on top of the dates and sprinkled with pine nuts. For some reason I was expecting them to be warm (I think they should have been).... I feel like they changed their recipe for some reason. Who knows!
As it was a bit of cheese fest (which is a-okay by me!) I ordered a flight of white Washington wines. I would tell you what they were....but my mom took the tasting notes! She had a flight of red wines from the "uncommon" wine category. This was an interesting choice on her part, as she doesn't drink wine very often and prefers white wine. Oh well. It was a good learning experience for her and meant extra wine for me!
We are all fairly full from our tastings, so my sis and LJ ordered salads, my mom a pizza and I had steamed clams. Everyone seemed to enjoy their selections. My clams were okay. They seemed a little tough to me and the kalamata olives and capers in the broth were a bit overpowering. (I also got a bummer text in the middle of this part of the meal- lesson learned- keep the phone in the handbag!)
As full as we were, when the effervescent Chris asked us if we wanted dessert, we couldn't refuse! I am not a big dessert person, so this menu is right up my alley. The desserts are tiny- only about 3 bites each (and three bucks!). I had the maple bread pudding with caramel and it was HEAVEN (another Chris recommendation). The pudding was soft and creamy and the caramel was lick the plate good. I would definitely order it again.
It was a great place to kick off the holiday season with some of my favorite ladies.
chow ciao
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