Un bon repas au Stella Mare's

One of my favorite Pixar movies is "Ratatouille". Just as I love reading about a good meal, I enjoy a good film about good food, and that movie really had me hankering for some French cuisine.

I remember trying escargot the first time I ever dined in Paris, but beyond that, don't really recall much of the food, mostly because I was more interested in touring the sights than savoring the food, at the time.

I've always wanted to try a nice French restaurant here in Santa Barbara, but the few here were pretty expensive. But since we've been dropping a good C-note on fare at our favorite German restaurant, Brummi's, for our anniversary the last couple of years, we decided that this year's anniversary was a good excuse to splurge on some fine French food.

So, tonight, I took advantage of the last of the unseasonably warm weather, dressed up in one of my new dresses, and trooped out with the boys to Stella Mare's in Montecito.

(photo taken with our DSLR camera)

When we got there, we were a bit skeptical of the location, given that it was right next to the freeway and railroad tracks. But once we stepped inside, we were taken by the charm of this 150-year old renovated house. We chose seats in the large greenhouse/sunroom attached to the house. When our server asked if we were here for any special occasion, we informed her it was for our anniversary, and she immediately brought out complimentary glasses of champagne. A toast!

(photo taken with HTC One S)

Dinner was fabulous! We got there in time for happy hour, which allowed us to indulge in some cocktails (Allan had a Cosmopolitan while I tried a Lemon Drop-- both delicious!) and multiple appetizers: frog legs and escargot. I'd never tried frog legs before (I had a chance to in Indonesia, but after seeing how they treated their animals, I just couldn't stomach it), and decided that people were right-- it tasted like chicken. Dry chicken, mind you, but the tomato/garlic dressing made up for it. The snails with parsley butter were as delightful as I remembered in Paris, if a bit on the plainer side.

After dinner, we ordered dessert, but before ours arrived, we were treated to a complimentary dessert in honor of our anniversary: flourless chocolate torte. Normally I'm very wary of anything "flourless", but this was delicious!

(photo taken with Samsung Galaxy Relay)

The desserts were equally delightful-- chocolate-filled profiteroles, a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse, and an assortment of 4 chocolates. Can you say family of chocaholics? Hey, when it comes to European fine chocolates, one MUST partake!

Yes, we came home very sated. And glad that we finally got a chance to try out a great French restaurant with delicious food and superb service. A bit too pricey to go very often, but for special occasions? Tonight was a real treat!