May 14, 2009 Mother's Day Celebrated

In order not to be among the great unwashed masses celebrating Mother's Day ON Mother's Day, Steve and I continued our decade-plus tradition of going out either the week before or the week after Mother's day. We celebrated last night in a relatively new seafood restaurant in Plano, Coast. No, there isn't an ocean view but there is a huge fountain in the roundabout in front of the restaurant.

We were seated in an open-sided booth. The decor was clean and coastal, with a huge coral piece in the foyer. Not too many folks were dining but it was early. The bar area had a respectable crowd for happy hour. We ordered martinis which were very good but not overly generous. Our waiter brought a basket of bread - the usual little crusty rolls - and a surprisingly good little cornbread creation with whole kernels of corn and chopped jalapeno peppers. Very nice.

Steve had the Ahi Tuna Crudo as his appetizer - a very thinly sliced raw tuna reminiscent of carpaccio. It was really good tuna; quite tasty. I had a salad of red and yellow roasted beets with goat cheese and arugula. I really liked it and will try to recreate it a home. I love beets in just about any form.

Steve's entree was Shellfish Marscapone Ravioli. He generously allowed me half a ravioli. It was good but I won the ordering contest. I had wonderful sea scallops. They were sweet, fresh and really delicious. Accompanying the scallops were sweet pea ricotta tortelloni with minted chardonnay butter. What a wonderful flavor! Just perfect.

For dessert, we shared a lemon phyllo tart with lavendar honey ice cream topped with chopped pistachios. Not too much phyllo - just the right amount. And the lemon filling was terrific.

A feature of the entree menu is the option of a smaller or larger portion. I selected the smaller, and thankfully, and got three large scallops. I wanted to try the tart and was glad I'd made that choice.

Coast is a really good restaurant and the service was non-intrusive yet alert - good. I don't think Jay would like it as they don't offer fried shrimp, his favorite.

On the way home, we stopped at Sullivan's for our after-Mother's Day Dinner martini. I'd not been to Sullivan's and it was hopping. Lots of Thursday night trolling going on. It was fun people watching.

Another great Mother's Day Celebration with my son.