proof!

it was time for july's dinner and after a long look at our list we settled on the new wine-centric spot in chinatown - proof. but, before we made our way over there we grabbed a few pre-dinner drinks at poste. who knew they had a sweet little happy hour deal there? $4 glasses of their house wine (red and white) and $4 for their truffled frites (aka french fries). so we boozed it up a little and then walked around the block (past indebleu, of course) to proof.

immediately upon walking into the restaurant we realized they were all about their wine. in the "lobby" there's a quote from ben franklin, "wine is proof that god loves us." and everywhere you look there are wine bottles stacked high to the ceiling. i checked in w/ the hostess and she said it would just be a minute (which was fine since we were a tad early for our reservation). so we stepped back to take in the scene. the bar was overflowing with people (a older, very euro crowd) and we immediately noticed the screens above the bar shuffling through pictures. oh wait, they were portraits. like, from the portrait gallery. haha.

the hostess showed us to our table (right in front of a giant window - perfect for people watching!) and apologized for the wait. really? she sat us less than five minutes after we arrived and we still sat down earlier than our reservation. man, we were off to a great start! she said she'd grab us a wine list and in the mean time we scoured the menu. while we were deciding on our meals they brought out some crackers w/ some sort of hummus spread to get us started. and then someone filled our weirdly shaped glasses with water (tap water, thank you very much).

impressively we picked out our food choices pretty quickly. we decided on two appetizers for the table - gnocchi and meatballs. and we each managed to pick a different entree from the somewhat limited (in a good way) menu - pork for me (obviously) and then salmon, halibut and sablefish for the others.

and obviously we ordered a bottle of wine as well. i really do like wine a lot, but i haven't yet reached the level of a wine connoisseur. i honestly can't really tell the difference between a good pinot grigio or a great one. so my thinking is, why bother spending hundreds of dollars on a bottle when you can be fully satisfied with one for $40? so, that's what we did. and then when the sommelier came out to pour it for us he so kindly told us (fibbing, of course) that the wine we picked was one of our favorites. it's really the little things...

so we got to drinking our wine in our ginormous wine glasses and eagerly anticipating the arrival of our food. and then our appetizers finally arrived! there were three meatballs served on a long plate with two raviolis as well. all smothered in a very flavorful red sauce (the sauce was good, right sus?). and the basil - mmmmmmm:) the gnocchi were so tender and served in a garicy butter sauce with fresh corn and mushrooms. the first course was definitely a success!

after we polished off the first course we settled back with our wine to wait for our main courses to arrive. and soon enough they arrived - looking delicious! like all the reviews said, the portions were definitely on the smaller side (at least compared to the normal servings you see in the obese society we live in). but, the portions ended up being the perfect size. and you could tell we liked everything since our plates were completely clear when they came to take them away (save for the vegetables on my plate and the pile of sauce on susie's).

we had already decided early in the night (actually i'm pretty sure we decided this all the way back at happy hour) that we were ordering dessert. and especially after susie's bold declaration that "no desserts are ever bad," there was no turning back. so when our waiter came by and asked us if we wanted to see a dessert menu i responded, "absolutely," and he said, "that's what i thought," as he walked away. did he read us well, or what??

a quick scan of the dessert menu (with about as many options as the entree menu) led us to choose two treats - the warm chocolate cake w/ fresh cherries and the toffee cake. both came out with a small scoop of ice cream (on top of a mysterious cookie) and both were absolutely delicious! also, i noticed that they served french press coffee - delish!

when the bill came and it only worked out to $45 a person (a deal, i know!) we began inspecting the bill and noticed that the waiter hadn't put our bottle of wine on the bill. we seriously considered whether or not we should tell him, but in the end i decided that it would be slightly awkward for him if he had meant to leave it off. in the end we were just looking out for him.

and if you know me you know that i was the first to go check out the bathrooms. that's probably my favorite part of checking out new places in the city. wow - so glad i did. these bathrooms are great! the walls are bright pink and have drawings of legs in lingerie w/ random bras painted in as well (no, it's not trashy like it sounds). and there's a bright pink heart mirror over the sinks (that are a bit difficult to figure out since the water spout is hidden) and even the toilet seats are pink. although we all confirmed that the toilets reminded us of airplane toilets (but not really in a bad way).

we left the restaurant satisfied, but not full and frolicked over to the metro. while waiting for our train we managed to pull together a list of all the restaurants we've eaten in over the past few months. man have we gotten around! eventually i'll type up the list and show you what you've missed out on.

and next up on the list is oya. judging from all the delicious, inventive drinks i've had there i can't wait to taste their food! mmmm sushi:)