Shortly after Anne & I first started dating, we had a nice romantic dinner at The Refectory. At the time, we weren’t too accustomed to eating French cuisine and I think some of the flavors were a bit surprising to us at first. I do remember the ambiance being wonderful, and the service top-notch. So nearly six years later we made a return visit for our second wedding anniversary this year with our expectations set even higher now that our palates had matured a bit.
We decided to order a bottle of Champagne to celebrate. We don’t drink a whole lot of it, so we decided to order the ol’ standby that we knew we’d like… Martini & Rossi Asti. They were actually out of it that evening, but our sommelier suggested a similarly sweet option (Rosa Regale) that he thought we’d enjoy, and he was spot on. We’ve actually picked up a bottle at the store since then, we liked it so much.
I decided to start with the Mussel Soup, a hearty bisque with white wine, shallots, and a saffron cream. The mussels were delicious. Anne had a Ceaser Salad. We also ordered the Seafood and Lobster Coulibiac, which was delicious. I can’t say I’ve had anything like it before, and it was one of the first items I had to run home and google to learn more about. I’m not even sure what to compare it to. I guess you’ll just have to go try it for yourself.
For our main dishes Anne went with the Pan Seared Sea Scallops which were served with a linguini and mustard sauce. She’s never met a scallop she didn’t like, and these were no exception. I ordered the “Poisson Du Jour” which I believe was Halibut (I should have been taking notes, but that wouldn’t have been very romantic of me) served crusted with Crabmeat and Artichokes and a lobster sauce. I had seafood for every course and was pretty much in heaven the entire time.
For dessert, we were accosted with multiple offerings to help celebrate our special occasion. I didn’t get a chance to memorize the actual names of the items as they were brought out as a surprise, but we enjoyed a Creme Brule, some sort of Banana Chocolate Cake, several Petit Fours, and some P�tes de fruits. The Creme Brule was excellent, but I wasn’t a big fan of the cake (I’m not a big chocolate eater). Anne loved the Petit Fours, but the P�te was the real winner for both of us. We get them fairly regularly at Pistacia Vera, and while those are very good, the ones at the Refectory were on a whole different level. Highly recommended if you want a small dessert after a filling multi-course meal.
All in all, we came away very satisfied with our anniversary dinner. Beautiful setting, excellent service, and masterfully executed dishes. We may have found our new favorite go-to spot for special occasions. They do offer a more inexpensive Bistro menu as well, which we will definitely be back to try soon as well. I’ve only heard good things about it.