Dinner at the Crosby

Last night Erin and I joined my parents for dinner, and this dinner goes down in history as one of the best dinners I've ever had. Definitely in the top 5, for sure :)

It was at the Crosby Club up in Rancho Santa Fe, and right from the start it was awesome! We were greeted by an incredibly friendly wait staff, and it seemed like as soon as we showed up the word was out that my parents were there, because everybody came out to meet us and welcome us! Definitely a great start to the evening!

Our waiter was Francisco, which is evidently my parent's favorite waiter there - they often don't come unless he's there, and if you know my parents, that makes total sense. They're really relational people, and going to dinner is as much about eating a good meal as it is catching up with your waiter.

All the food was amazing, but my food was to die for. I had a 26 ounce piece of prime beef, bone in, with some garlic mashed potatoes (of course), asparagus, and some other random veggies. There's only been two other times when I've gotten watery eyes when I've bitten into a piece of steak (Once at Mortons over a particular butterfly fillet with peppercorn and the other at Rio do Gado over a fillet wrapped in bacon). This was a good piece of meat.

My dad picked out some amazing wines (Joseph Pelps Le Mistral & an Elyse Petite Syrah) which both went perfectly with the meal. At one point during the course of dinner the head chef, Luke, came out and chatted with us for about 15 minutes, and he was particularly interested in how I liked my steak - the thing was huge and you could tell it was probably the talk of the kitchen. He said that that was the best piece of meat he's seen in a long time, and he had hidden two pieces that he was going to take home and grill for himself!

It was rad getting to talk to the guy who basically invented the menu. Awesome. Our food got a little cold while we talked with everyone, and so Francisco hooked it up, and brought our plates back to the kitchen, heated the food up a bit, and brought it back out on fresh plates, freshly garnished, and most importantly - more mashed potatoes. Yes!

It wasn't all about the food and the service, though. It was really a wonderful time spent with my folks. We were out celebrating Erin's & my one year anniversary (coming up June 25th!) and so that was really meaningful, and we also got to talk a little to my parents about some of the things that have made their marriage so successful (34 years in October!). That was really cool.

If you want to know their advice, you can take me to dinner at the Crosby, and I'll tell you :)