Birthday at Chez Melange

It was that time to pass the traveling balloon to the next birthday girl. It was Mertz's birthday. We were all there except for Amy who got sick and was unable to attend and our friend Ana who we dearly miss.

We started with the Truffle Parmesan Fries and the Brussels Sprouts; kung pao style, shitake mushrooms, peanuts, chile, garlic, bell pepper and onion. We all commented that we would have been very happy with just those 2 items with our champagne but Mertz insisted we order more food, preferably an entree and so we did. Cindy and Sujata wanted to order the Petrale Sole but the server told them they were already out of it. Cindy and Sandi decided on the Nicoise Braise with artichokes, fennel, pancetta onion, garlic, thyme, butternut squash ravioli and parmesan cheese. Sujata settled on the Dayboat Sea Scallops, pan seared to medium with corn sauce, broccolini in an orange reduction. Everyone seemed to be happy with their food.

Mertz and I ordered the Rib Eye Steak; grilled with horseradish cream, Tuscan black kale, butter beans, garlic and olive oil. We were both more than happy; in fact we were a lot happier than the 3 ladies. The steak had a lot of flavor and was just delicious. I finished mine. Mertz took a small portion home.

Our server brought a birthday cake for Mertz. She didn't want us to sing and so we did sing "Happy Birthday". Her cake was so good that we ordered another slice for us to share. They also ordered a hot apple tart which did not interest me since it was hot. I like my apple pie cold and I'm not the only one that likes it cold.

When all the food was gone, we decided it was time to leave but not before finishing our second bottle of champagne. It was a fun birthday celebration. Cheers to Mertz!