I miss you already

I miss you already. Yes, you.

This past weekend was a blast, and I can't wait to have more weekends like this to come!

After a long and tiring (but fun) weekend of Disney and outlet shopping, Nina, Krishna and I had dinner in St. Augustine. It was a great ending to a fun-filled weekend and the food was superb! Kudos to Nina for picking the restaurant- Collage.

I didn't know what to expect as Nina had done the research and made the reservations without consultation, but I was pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere and unique twists on their dishes.

We started off with some fresh baked sourdough bread that came with a whole head of roasted garlic. The garlic was pungent and sweet and the warm soft bread was the perfect compliment. I almost ate the entire garlic head. Delicious.

I saw Foie Gras on the appetizer menu, so I of course had to get it. I was also intrigued by the cashew butter sauce- which ended up being delicious. 

They called it a PB&J foie gras dish, which sounds a little strange but it ended up being amazing. The light nutty flavor of the cashew butter with the sweet sauce (which you find a lot on foie gras dishes to balance out the heavy fattiness anyway) was perfect. The crunch of the large baked crouton and the mango chutney on top of the foie gras was lovely! The only thing bad about this dish, the foie gras itself. Way to use low-quality foie gras, Collage. It was almost impossible to cut clean with all the veins running through the liver! I suggest Collage invest in some higher quality foie, especially for this intricate dish that needs to be maneuvered very carefully!

Since I was a party pooper and got something that I couldn't share too easily, Nina and Krishna got the Brie for Two appetizer. The nutty brie with the flaky phyllo dough was great! Thanks for sharing, guys.

As for our entrees, Krishna got the only vegetarian option available- Butternut Squash Ravioli with winter vegetables. Nina got the Lobster Ravioli (with a 5 oz. lobster tail on top) and I got the Shrimp and Scallop All' Imperiale!

Butternut squash ravioli

Lobster Ravioli

Shrimp and Scallop All' Imperiale

Our entree presentations were nice (but not spectacular) and our food was pretty tasty. Krishna's ravioli were soft, fluffy and light while the cream pesto sauce over Nina's ravioli gave it a buttery decadent texture. My pasta dish was good- not too creamy. The seafood were also cooked perfectly. I would say Nina's dish won for the night- I love lobster.

Of course, Nina insisted on getting a dessert. Their signature Bougainvillea dessert.

The dessert had vanilla ice cream on top of sauteed, warm strawberries in a baked phyllo dough cup. The Phyllo was the most memorable part- so flaky and buttery.. mmmmmm

Although this place wasn't bad, I wouldn't say it was spectacular. The food was tasty, the protein was cooked correctly and the ambiance is nice. I would return again, but only after I've tried all the other great places in St. Augustine- I can't wait!

I also need to get used to the slow service down here in the South....

I'll miss you both- best of luck to Krishna on his epic adventure! Like I said, I miss you already.

Price: $$$

Food: B+

Ambiance: B+

Service: B

Frog and The Peach

Ohhhhhhh boy. I am in Florida. Yes. Florida. As great as I hear the seafood is, I'm pretty sure nothing is going to beat the food in the Tri-State Area. Boy am I going to miss the food......

But more importantly, I am absolutely going to miss the people! I moved down to Jacksonville,FL so quickly that I barely had the chance to hang out with some close friends. Good thing a few are coming to visit soon!

Nina Bina is coming for a Melina weekend tonight and it made me reminisce about our last meal together- lunch at the Frog and The Peach.

Nina and I decided to skip the lunch at our last ITLDP training one day and head to the Frog and The Peach for a real meal. Anything but Christopher's. 

The Frog and The Peach is a nice French restaurant that had a reasonably priced lunch menu- I've been dying to try it for the longest time! I got the winter vegetable soup to start and the seared day boat scallops as an entree.

Winter Vegetable Soup

Seared Day Boat Scallops

To be honest, I was expecting it to be better. I mean, it was my last meal in New Jersey! The soup was OK. For those of you who know me, I am a huge soup fan. This one was a little too much pumpkin and squash and not enough... savory and salt, if you know what I mean. The texture was extremely thick and grainy and it was very hot for a long time- we could barely drink it! I didn't end up finishing it, which is a travesty in my book. 

The scallops were also.. OK. Although it was perfectly seared, the miso vinaigrette with the sesame peanut noodles were a little underwhelming. The hot seared scallops with the extremely cold/refrigerated noodles takes you by surprise. I'm not sure if they meant to do it this way, or they just were in a rush (to be fair, we told them we had to be done with the entire meal in 45 minutes). The miso vinaigrette was good- although a bit too salty, but the cold noodles and slaw could have been better. 

We ended the meal with a pretty delicious dessert- a coffee creme brulee. Although it was small, to me it was the perfect portion for a light lunch. I've had many creme brulees before but the intense espresso flavor infused with the sweet cream of the dessert was the perfect ending- and a good pick me up after a long morning of training!

I would say that I had higher expectations for this place. It could be that I just didn't get the right stuff, but I was hoping for more savory fatty goodness (that the french is so famous for) than a light, asian inspired lunch! The greatest thing was our very attentive and understanding server- very good service!

In the end, the meal was perfect because I was with the perfect person. 

So excited for Nina to visit- time for Disney tomorrow!

Food: B

Service: A-

Ambiance: A

Price: $$$