These are a few of my favorite things...

My bestest friend Grace came to visit me while I was home. We did our most favorite things - shopping and eating. Who could resist buying a 100% cashmere sweater for $29.99? Not us. Grace's is purple, mine is pink. We wore them out to dinner that same night at The Crossing at Casey Jones in LaPlata, MD. Cashmere sweaters and fancy food? Craziness!!

Who knew there was fine dining to be had in lil' ol' LaPLATA? The Crossing is adjacent to the proprieters' neighborhood bar, Casey Jones, in the cute, courthouse-area of LaPlata. The restaurant is decorated in the Art Nouveau/Arts and Crafts style. My favorites were the Mucha-like paintings on the walls.

Reservations are recommended, but weren't necessary especially since it was a Wednesday night (but of course I stressed out about that). Despite the fact that this place is on the pricey side (but TOTALLY reasonable considering the quality), you don't feel like you HAVE to dress really nice. Across the aisle from us were a trio of nurses still in uniform and the couple behind Grace were in t-shirts. It IS LaPlata, afterall. The kitchen is open, so you can see a little bit of what is going on, but you really don't hear them. It was kind of funny how calm things were around us, because we were super excited about the food.

Well, first came the bread. It was kind of refrigerator-cold. Kind of a bummer. But the slices were a little sweet and had bits of dried fruit, maybe raisins or currants, in them. Tasty, but could have been twenty times better if warm. Didn't stop us from getting two servings, lol.

Our first plate, which we shared, was the appetizer special of the day: scallops and polenta. It was DIVINE. I didn't get a picture on my phone, but just picture BIG unadulterated, dry scallops that were so intensely scallop-y, surrounded by a smattering of wild mushrooms, all nestled atop the creamiest,butteriest, most decadent, polenta we have EVER tasted. I could honestly eat that all day long.

Next came the entrees. I had trouble picking one, but I chose this (sorry about the poor camera phone quality):

Here's a pic from their website. Much more appetizing picture.

Chilean sea bass with lobster mashed potatoes and spinach. The long fried thingies tasted like plantain or taro, but later found out were actually something called salsify , aka oyster plant. I think it was clever to use it in this to add another layer of seafood flavor, even if I didn't detect the oysterness. The fish was very nice and delicate and just done with a nice crispy sear on both sides. The concept of lobster mashed potatoes was decadent, but I was a little disappointed because the potatoes were slightly watery and weren't BURSTING with lobster flavor despite the fact that there were plenty of lobster chunks. (I was coming down with a cold though, so I could be wrong. I'll just have to go back and taste it again ;). My dish was certainly delicious and had a very south american feel, but I wasn't wowed. Probably a great summer dish though.

Grace's entree on the other hand was like sex on a plate. The combination of the flavors and textures were Oh.My.God. good.

It was the espresso-crusted duck breast with cinnamon seared foie gras on top of grilled polenta with a blackberry coulis. (Oh yeah, and that is foam. I couldn't believe it. I thought only super trendy fancy restaurants made things with foam. Apparently, the foam was buttery.) Anyway, I had had foie gras before on the cruise Grace and I had taken to the western carribean, but this was 10x more divine. If you've never had it before it's like silken fat with absolutely no livery taste. Grace was very pleased with the duck, after having been often disappointed in past experiences. The combination of the smoky espresso duck and rich foie gras and sweet blackberry coulis was bang-your-fist-on-the-table fantastic.

By then we were pretty full and grinning like cheshire cats. But of course, we HAD to have dessert. Our own desserts, no sharing. LOL. Grace had pre-ordered, at the beginning of the meal, a berry cobbler topped with two scoops of homemade vanilla ice cream. It was warm and homey and simple in a way, but also had a lot of flavor and spices that made it complex in another way. It was good. I had the vanilla creme brulee (both desserts were big enough for two people really, but we're gluttons!). The sugar layer was nice and thick and reminded me of linoleum, so it did give that nice satisfying crack when my the tip of my spoon made first contact. The pudding itself was a tish bit too refrigerator cold, but it was still really yummy and I tried to scrape every speck of vanilla off the bottom of the dish.

All in all, dinner was fabulous. Good food with great company after a day of excellent shopping. It doesn't get much better. And I just LOVE LOVE LOVE that there is a great little independent restaurant with beautiful food that is near home in the neglected side of the city.

If any of you are back in MD while I am, let's have dinner. I'd LOVE to go back to the Crossing. (Oh, and by the way, they hold tea once a month. How many of my favorite things can be put together in one place???!?!?!)