Anniversary Dinner at Circa
On Wednesday the Boyfriend and I went out for a fun dinner at Circa in San Francisco to celebrate our anniversary.
We weren’t looking for anything frou frou so we were excited to grub on favorite American classics, prepared with a contemporary twist. The menu had so many yummy sounding options that we decided to have our dinner tapas-style and order a bunch of small plates to share instead of full entrees.
First to come out of the kitchen were these cute Maine Lobster Corndogs with a mustard beurre blanc. For me the batter was way to sweet and I was a tad disappointed that it was literally a batter piece of lobster. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it were a hearty lobster-style sausage or something. The beurre blanc on the other hand was delicioius!! I’d love some of that every day to use as a dipping sauce.
We also had a Tropical Snapper Ceviche served in a crisp tortilla cup with fine dices of mango, pineapple, and peppers accompanied by warm house tortilla chips. This dish was also a little too sweet for my liking but served as a lighter option to snack on in between the other richer dishes.
One thing I was really looking forward to were the Angus Sliders with Black Truffle and Brie. But when we got there the menu had changed slightly to include Bacon & Cheddar-stuffed Angus Sliders, instead. Nonetheless, we couldn’t resist anything stuffed with bacon and order those as well. While they were delicious, I feel like they were mini burgers I could have made at home. Tip to the restaurant: make your own buns. They’d seem more authentic that way.
And finally for my two favorite dishes of the evening: Smoky Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Bites and Lobster & White Truffle Mac n Cheese.
The soup was a tad on the smoky side but had lots of yummy tomato flavor to make up for it. My favorite part was dipping the crispy, cheesy grilled bites into it.. it’s enough to make you feel like a kid again!
The ooey gooey mac and cheese was my absolute favorite of the night. Made with shell pasta with generous chunks of lobster, topped with crunchy bread crumbs and then baked to perfection, I had to try really hard not to wolf the dish down in three spoonfuls, LOL. Even the Boyfriend liked it and he’s not even a mac and cheese fan!
Now what anniversary dinner would be complete without dessert? We stayed true to the evening and ordered the Dessert Sampler. Why else? So we could try a little bit of everything, of course! We had (from L to R) Pumpkin Cheesecake, Espresso Creme Brulee, Black and White Bread Pudding topped with vanilla gelato, and Brioche Doughnut Holes served with whipped cream and a rich chocolate sauce.
My absolute favorite was the bread pudding, not too sweet and the perfect balance between warm and cold gelato. Yum! The Boyfriend also finished off the creme brulee before we headed home for the evening.
Overall, the food wasn’t mind-blowing, but everything was done with lots of fun and taste. I think this will be a fun happy hour spot with my friends in the lounge area. More mac and cheese, please!
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On December 6th, 2008 Jody said:
Oh yummy the mac & cheese, ad the dessert plate looks the bomb!!!
On December 8th, 2008 Marisol said:
omg…the food looks so good!
On December 11th, 2008 kia said:
happy anni lilan and bf!! wow all the lobster dishes look devine!