Before I go into tonight's description, I would like to give you a little background to the Wednesday night "girls' night." Quite a few years ago, when my Uncle Sal passed away, my cousin Judy, my Auntie Carm, my mom, and I used to get together once a week for a girls' night. These nights usually ended with flared tempers, tears, and a rule that mothers and daughters could not sit on the same side of the booth. Even with all of the bickering, we all loved our Wednesday nights. Together we shared wonderful memories. Since my Auntie Carm passed away our girls' nights haven't come as regularly, so when we do get together we try to make them special.
Tonight my mom, Judy, my cousin Lindsey, and I went out to do some shopping. I received a bunch of buy one get one free Yankee Candle jar coupons in the mail and decided to buy some. Even though candles give off virtually no heat, I enjoy lighting a candle on a cold night. While we were there in the Christmas Tree Shops plaza in Orange we began to choose a place to eat. We ended up taking the long drive to Gabriele's. (I'm completely kidding. Gabriele's is in like the back parking lot of Yankee Candle.)
Overall, it was a good meal. I also have some leftovers which will save me from having to make lunch tomorrow and that's always a plus.
It was warm inside the restaurant. I don't know if it's just because it's so cold outside or what, but lately every restaurant I go to is freezing! Luckily it wasn't cold in Gabriele's. Our waitress was odd. I promised Lindsey I would blog about her suckiness so here goes- the waitress sucked. She rarely came back to our table and was slow with our food. Her entire delivery was terrible but that's enough about the service, let's talk food. I ordered the veal saltimbocca. Good choice. (It was a bit salty. And because I'm saying that, I'm sure most people would say that it was incredibly salty.) It came with a salad- I got the parmesan peppercorn dressing. Also good. The veal came in three pieces covered with prosciutto and mozzarella. In the center there was this little mound of spinach. The spinach stole the show. They must have sauteed it with prosciutto and onions because it was overflowing with flavor. If Popeye ever had this spinach he might just have no need for Olive Oil anymore.
It also came with a side of macaroni. I chose the spaghetti. Now the side of pasta, I just don't get it. You're at a good restaurant. The pasta entrees are delish. So why is it that that side of pasta tastes like crap? Do they just not care about the side of pasta? Do they have a jar of Prego to use for the side? Even the pasta itself tastes like it never touched a pot of boiling salted water. Salting the water does numbers. I'm surprised by the number of people that don't put salt in boiling water. I don't care what I'm boiling. I'm always going to add to my pot of water. It's water, folks. Water has no taste, therefore when cooking with water, it needs to be flavored. My fellow diners all some variation of Florentine. They all said that it was good.
I had a nice dinner tonight. It wasn't the same as the old girls' nights used to be, but it was an unexpected mid-week treat. I plan on cooking tomorrow so I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. Until the next bite...
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