Day 267: Bored? Branch Out!

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that when we eat out we almost always choose a restaurant within walking distance of our house.  There are a ton of great places to choose from, no driving means we can enjoy a bottle of wine, and we don't have to deal with the challenge of finding a taxi.

But...once in awhile I get bored and this was one of those weeks.  I felt the need to branch out and so tonight we decided to try a new place in another neighborhood.  Crazy kids!  We decided to to try Chiaroscuro, a charming looking Italian restaurant that we had walked by over a year ago in the financial district.  

We started with two appetizers:  the meat and cheese plate (an irresistible dish for us at Italian restaurants) and the bruchetta plate which had 6 tiny discs of toasted bread, each with a different topping.  Both dishes were great.  In fact, with 4 very different cheeses and 4 generously cut types of salami, that was probably one of the best meat and cheese plates we've had outside of Italy.  

I followed that up with monkfish, which was the evening special.  Monkfish is often referred to as "a poor man's lobster" because it offers a lobster-like texture at a fraction of the cost.  Of course, lobster is far more delicious and well worth the price but monkfish is a tasty (and very ugly) creature as well.

I found this particular preparation okay, but not great.  The fish seemed a bit tough to me.  But the artichokes and olives served with it really made the dish and I cleaned my plate.

We had begun the evening at Nectar, our favorite neighborhood wine bar, so after all this food and lots of wine, there was no way I could squeeze in dessert.

But I did feel that we accomplished what I had hoped to tonight.  We got out of the 'hood, enjoyed a change of scenery, and discovered another good restaurant.  Here's to branching out!