restaurant week, part I

the restaurant: vidalia.

the space: simple and bright. and kudos for having stylish glass walls separating the bar area from the main dining room. and since we had to wait a few minutes for our table we got to make use of the super comfy couches in the bar area.

the food: delicious. here's a breakdown of what we ordered...

appetizers - bison carpaccio w/ mozzarella, rabbit sausage, veal tounge and tuna w/ crabcake. the rabbit sausage and tuna/crab cake combo were definitely the two best. the carpaccio was rather flavorless. and the tounge was good, but it was on a stiff, flavorless pita that kind of took away from the dish.

entrees - duck (w/ a delicious egg roll!), steak, cod and shrimp & grits. obviously i liked the duck and steak the best, but i would like to have you know that i at least tried both seafood dishes. and they weren't bad at all. and i can't forget to mention the side of macaroni and cheese that we ordered (and devoured!).

desserts - vanilla bean cake w/ a strawberry jam filling, peanut butter crunch and the pecan tart a la mode. [side note - does anyone else immediately think of little miss sunshine when hearing the word "a la mode"??]

oh, and drinks! well we did a number at the tabard inn beforehand so we held off on the wine at dinner. but, they were offering a number of bottles for $32 in honor of restaurant week.

the service: ok, but nothing great. i didn't mind not having someone hovering over us, but i wouldn't have minded a little more attention. oh well.

the bathroom: anyone who knows me knows that a) i go to the bathroom a lot and b) i like checking out the bathrooms in nice restaurants. the bathroom at vidalia is nice, but nothing special. although they strategically put mouthwash by the sinks to help rinse out the flavor from the delicious onion bread (served before the meal with cornbread).

my only complaint was the fact that more than half of the menu had upcharges. i understand they don't want to lose money, but honestly if you can't offer your food for the restaurant week rate then don't participate in restaurant week.