Lobster x 2 = 1 Happy Day.

OK, I had lobster TWO times on Saturday. THAT is one of my definitions of a Great Day.

The first time, I was with Mike the Magnificent Contractor. We met at Joey's in Southcenter for lunch. He ordered an Ahi sandwich (which he said was not bad...) and he recommended that I try the Lobster Grilled Cheese sandwich. With a little more lobster, it would have been amazing...but with the little bits of lobster in it, it was pretty darned good. Crispy, browned bread; tangy, gooey cheese; and...lobster. I would probably order it again, but find some way to finagle some more lobster between the bread slices.

I had lobster--again--at dinner. Mr. Foodie & I went to the Barking Frog in Woodinville for our anniversary. When our most awesome server, Gina, handed us the menu, my eyes immediately snapped to the Popcorn Lobster in the appetizer section. A generous number of these lobster fritters came in a cute little basket that looked like a miniature version of the fry baskets you see at fast food places--except no oil was dripping off of this beauty.

Inside--a pile of lobster chunks in batter that was as light as air--Gina told us the secret was beignet batter. Oooooh, lobster donuts. Excellent. Could life get any better than it was at that moment?! I told Mr. Foodie that I was prepared to go out and buy a deep fryer for the kitchen right there and then, if we could make these every night! A really lovely ginger sauce accompanied this dish. It was absolutely spectacular--the kind of appetizer that makes you want to go out for a cigarette, even if you don't smoke.

Mr. Foodie ordered the Grand Marnier Prawns, which were also deep fried, and covered in an amazing, orange-y glaze. The kitchen smartly put these on two plates for the two of us.... I reluctantly gave up one of my prawns to Bill, since he actually ordered them. If I hadn't been ready to roll around in the lobster, I would have thought I'd died and gone to heaven with this plate. Plump, tasty shrimp alongside a nice little stack of mixed greens with a lemongrass vinaigrette. Lovely.

I ordered the Red Beet Salad with mandarin orange slices, hazelnuts, goat cheese and vanilla honey drizzle. This was a THOUSAND times better thant the roasted beet salad I attempted to make earlier in the week. Bill got the Mixed Green Salad with julienned apple, Oregon blue cheese crumbles, toasted walnuts and creamy blue cheese dressing. Both were tasty.

For dinner, Bill ordered some of the most amazing scallops I've ever had the pleasure of eating. The Ginger Crusted Sea Scallops were served on a savory bed of lentils, bacon, pea vines, mushrooms, cipollini onions, crunchy smoked almonds--all lovingly tossed in a light curry coconut sauce. The scallops had an amazing brown sear on the top that imparted a brown-butter flavor that just about knocked you off your chair. And the mixture they were served upon had amazing texture (those almonds!!!)and was earthy and chewy and, well, just perfect.

I was having a hard time figuring out what to order. Any of the entrees could have been amazing. Ahi? New York Steak? Duck Breast with huckleberry risotto and duck confit?

In the end, I chose the Northwest Beef Tenderloin, which was served on top of gnudi (which, apparently are large gnocchi) and mushrooms--with a thick gorgonzola cream anchoring the plate.

Here's my official verdict: um....wow. Holy smokes, what a dish! The tenderloin is cooked sous-vide (and thanks to Top Chef, I now know that this means the meat is put in an air-tight vacuum bag, placed in hot, not boiling water and cooked slowly for a verrrry long time). What results is meat that literally melts in your mouth and is jammed full of flavor. The combination of the velvety beef with the buttery gnudi, the earthy mushrooms and the unbelieveable gorgonzola sauce was almost enough to make a girl faint. Words really fail me here, but I can safely say: this was the best dinner of 2009. And we've had some G R E A T dinners.

I wish I could say that after all of that, we didn't order dessert, but we did. I had a little scoop of homemade caramel ice cream served with a shortbread cookie, which was lovely, and Bill had an apple crumble, which also came with the caramel ice cream.

Those were both really nice--but I secretly was kicking myself inside: I should have ordered more lobster donuts for dessert instead.

Joey's
758 Southcenter Mall
Tukwila, WA 98188
206.835.6397.

Barking Frog
14580 N.E. 145th Street
Woodinville, WA 98072
425.424.3900