So Many Dishes

Yesterday was our 54th wedding anniversary. Having an anniversary that falls between Christmas and New Year’s can cause a bit of a conundrum as to when to celebrate. Restaurants tend to be very busy, and it doesn’t always feel like a celebration. And because we’re basically exhausted by the time we get home on a Sunday, we really don’t feel like going out again. I’d had the opportunity to let loose and blast out Aerosmith’s Dream On, so I was pretty much done.

We decided to have a nice dinner at home, and go out for lunch today, instead. There will be a post with last night’s recipe, because it was perfect for a celebration dinner, but for now, back to lunch. Our plan had been to go to our favorite restaurant on the water, Seasons 52. We’d been there for my birthday, but we’d had Luke with us. This would be just the two of us.

We started the morning with a cool walk through the fog along the canal. Alas, my SI joint decided that this was more than it could handle. Ice, stretching, and some massage from Ken relieved the pain, but I worried that the car ride would trigger it again; it’s a good 40 minutes to the restaurant, and riding in the car has been one of my main pain triggers.

We bounced several ideas around until I remembered a gift card that has been sitting atop our desk for three years. Suddenly, we had a plan.

I mentioned our dear friend Peilin Ko in a post last week. For those who didn’t know her, she was not only one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the privilege to work with, but also just an incredible human being. We lost her much too early.

Ken and I shared more than music with Peilin. She also loved good food, and enjoyed finding new restaurant experiences. Eating at an Asian restaurant with her was an adventure: she would order for everyone, I’d end up trying something entirely new, and there was always enough food to bring home at least one more meal. She enjoyed other cuisines, too, and more than once she would give us a restaurant gift card “just because.”

For Christmas 2022, her last, Peilin gave us a gift card for Cooper’s Hawk. At the time, this restaurant/winery chain had just one restaurant in the county, in Palm Beach Gardens. I remember being intrigued when I looked at the menu online, but we somehow never went. Then, that bit of plastic became the last tangible link to Peilin. The envelope got tucked into the organizer atop the desk, and became a vague memory.

A few weeks ago, I noticed that a new Cooper’s Hawk outlet had opened here in Wellington. So when we needed a new plan, I recalled both the gift card and the new restaurant. Ken was amenable to the idea, so that’s where we went.

What an excellent choice! The restaurant is large and airy. You walk in through a wine tasting room that looks like it was plucked straight out of the Napa Valley. The wines were excellent, too. They gave us a sample of their featured wine, a Bordeaux-style red, that was quite good. Being white wine drinkers, though, we each tried one of their whites. Ken’s Riesling tasted like the wines we drank in Austria. I appreciated that they had an unoaked Chardonnay, and it was delicious.

And the food! I chose from the lunch-sized entrees section of the menu, and thoroughly enjoyed my Parmesan-crusted chicken. This is essentially a chicken schnitzel, with a lemon-butter sauce, blistered grape tomatoes, perfectly cooked haricot verts, served over mashed potatoes. The elements are simple, but the execution and presentation were perfect. Comfort food doesn’t get more elegant or delicious.

Ken chose a really interesting cilantro ranch chicken salad. It included Tilamook cheese, bacon, and smashed avocado in addition to the cilantro ranch dressing. Ken gave me a taste; it was as good as any chicken sandwich I’ve ever eaten, and that’s often been my default choice for lunch. I don’t think he left a speck on his plate.

I don’t think we could have asked for a better celebration. I miss being able to tell Peilin how much we enjoyed it, but I know she would have been happy to have helped make it happen.