Varanese Part Deux

So quite obviously I stink at keeping up with my blog. Food blog wonders such as My Baking Addiction, Teenie Cakes, and Chocolate & Zucchini put me to shame (not to mention all their GORGEOUS photos!) However, I still like to talk endlessly about food, so I will continue on, no matter how intermittently.

Varanese Caprese Salad

July is the month of my birthday, and I got to have some wonderful eating adventures in celebration of said birthday. The best perhaps being my birthday night meal with the hubby at Varanese. Yes, I already wrote about them, but it was so good, I snatched the LivingSocial deal that came up after Supper Club’s outing and dragged him to it.

We have a convert people!

Beef Tips and Tortellini

I started with their special salad, a twist on a caprese. Mixed greens, thinly sliced tomatoes, and a cheese that was smoky, sweet, and unbelievably dense, all drizzled with a balsamic glaze. Absolutely delish! For our entrees, I ordered the Beef Tips & Tortellini (tossed in a gorgonzola cream sauce, with baby spinach, grape tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts, topped with crispy prosciutto) and he ordered the “V” Burger (char-grilled grass-fed beef topped with smoked mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, and Chef John’s V-12 sauce). We both loved them! Mine was the perfect balance of the gorgonzola with the steak and pasta, and the pine nuts added a great crunch. He absolutely raved about his burger, quickly devouring it and sopping up the rest of the V-12 sauce with his fries.

Small Bites Dessert

Soon after, the jazz duo played “Happy Birthday” for me, and our server brought out their Small Bites dessert, which had (clockwise from left) a chocolate bar with the Varanese logo, a small cup of what we were told was blueberry waffle ice cream (kinda tasted like a mild cookie dough), and a dense peanut butter caramel brownie. While they were all good, they didn’t knock my socks off. One of their dessert specials that night was a grilled peach with vanilla bean ice cream and blueberries…so we ordered that! When it came out, we saw two peach halves with a gooey scoop of rich ice cream, all swimming in a caramel sauce. It was out of this world! We ate every bite and loved it.

Grilled Peaches with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Afterwards, a stroll on the waterfront to watch the sun set was in order to burn just a few of the calories we had consumed, and then home to drop into a deep food coma. Absolutely perfect evening.