Me and Louis

Had a bit of grownup fun last night. Finally made it to Petit Louis Bistro after almost a year of trying to make it happen. My husband and I don't do the "get dressed up and go to a fancy restaurant" thing very often. Sometimes I'm wistful about that. Most of the time I'm quite happy at TheSecond Chance, or bringing home exquisite takeout from Maiwand.

Last night was special. It was actually a celebration of last year's wedding anniversary. It was the only thing I asked for: dinner at Petit Louis. It took a while, but my wish came true.

I liked it. I loved the feel of the room. The light, the marble, the gleaming brass, the wood, the mirrors, the tiny candles flickering on the tables. The service was knowledgable and attentive. Well, maybe a hair too attentive. But better that than to be ignored, I guess. Service moved smoothly, like a carefully-planned dance. But in a comfortable way. Not too fussy.

Part of me wished that there had been a bit of live music coming from another room to fill in the spaces between the chatter and the clinking of dishes and so on. Perhaps a bit of the Django Reinhardt-esque jazz that Johnny Depp and his band play in the movie Chocolat. Not essential. My brain just wanted to supply it to add to the mood.

The food? It was very, very good. I began with a shrimp bisque (one of the evening's specials) and then had the Truite Almondine. My husband had the Steak Frites. Not a surprise for a true devoted meat-and-potatoes kind of guy. I had a glass of red which was very smooth and drinkable without being overly sweet, just right.

For dessert he had dark chocolate ice cream, I had the profiteroles with chocolate ice cream, salted caramel sauce, and dark chocolate sauce. Wow. Easily the richest and most overwhelming thing I ate the entire evening. I think sharing would be a good plan with this, but who am I kidding? I managed to eat it all.

The tables for two around the edge of the room are spaced a bit close together. As the room filled up we began to feel as though it was unavoidable to eavesdrop on the conversations of the patrons on either side of us, especially when the waiter came by. Since we were out on a long-awaited romantic occasion, I rather wished we had a bit more of a bubble around us. Not sure how to solve that, though.

We had arrived at six thirty. By the time we finished up there was quite a nice Friday night dinner crowd. It made me happy to see the place doing so well. As we we walked out to our car we took a minute to go past theTomato Palace, where we could see a family birthday party taking place. (I wonder where all those balloon animals were coming from?) Clyde's was also abuzz with Friday night folks. We admired the updates to the space as we walked by.

One last stop--to see a dear friend. It was the perfect ending to a lovely night.