Restaurant Week, or How to Get Gout in 3 Days or Less!

San Antonio is having its Restaurant Week (or Culinaria, 'cause, you know...that's how we roll here).

Dave and I decided to take advantage of it to check out some restaurants new to us. We dug into our travel savings since we can't travel right now, and treated these outings as destinations. We started with dinner at Biga on the Banks, then proceeded to lunch at Restaurant Insignia, dinner at Las Canarias, and dinner at Bistro Vatel.

Monday through Wednesday.

Here's some of what I ate during those three days:

• chilled avocado soup w/ shrimp + pico de gallo
• crab cake w/ ancho chile sauce, chayote squash, green jasmine rice
• chocolate torte
• sweet corn and shrimp bisque
• smoked trout flatbreads
• chicken club w/ salad
• chocolate/nutella torte
• plantain wonton bite
• warm spinach salad w/ brie + strawberries
• Berkshire pork loin w/ braised pork belly on roasted onion velouté
• sticky toffee pudding w/ banana ice cream + cherries
• smoked salmon roulade
• veal scallopini w/ red wine  mushroom sauce
• crème brûl--

"Bring me a bucket."

"But, madame . . . your crème brûlée?"

"Bucket! BUCKET!!!"

We had reservations for Thursday and tonight, too, but we canceled them. Butter overload. Dinner last night was lettuce and watermelon. And our bodies rejoiced. *YAY*

We did have a few favorites to share...

Appetizer: mini mussels in spicy red sauce, Bistro Vatel (we'll be back for more of those)

Main: crab cake w/ ancho chile sauce, Biga on the Banks
(close second: Dave had a roasted pork here -- would've been my favorite if I'd ordered it)

Dessert: toffee pudding w/ banana ice cream, Las Canarias
(close second: Dave's avocado mousse at Biga)

Wine: Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir (New Zealand), Las Canarias
(close seconds: the pairings at Biga, though mine were all whites and I prefer reds)

Design: Biga on the Banks

Music: Las Canarias

Have a great weekend all! (Don't eat too richly!)