Date Night!

A candlelit dinner – just what we needed

My husband and I went on a much needed date night.  Just the two of us.  No kids.  Ahhh.  So nice.  We always do something special for our anniversary (in May) and that was the last night we went out just the two of us. We used to love going out pre-kids, but we seem to get busy and just forget to spend time with each other.  This is bad as without the two of us there would be no family.

Anyway, we went for a wonderful date night at the Scarlet Oak Tavern in Hingham.  I love the bar area.  There is a double-sided fireplace and a nice rustic menu with burgers, oven fired pizzas and some really scrummy starters to share.  I’m partial to the oven fired blue crab and sharp cheddar dip.  We decided to make a reservation as we had a baby sitter coming and didn’t know if we’d be able to get a seat in the bar on a Friday night.

The dining room is gorgeous with banquette seating, dark walls with amazingly hung items, a fantastic wine display and these flickering candles on each table.  Even though the dining room was busy it felt like Luke and I were the only ones in the place.  We started our night off with a cocktail.  I have to tell you the pineapple coconut mojito was so refreshing and summery.  Try to get there just for one of these before summer is over!

To start Luke had the New England Clam Chowder which was super creamy and I had the Scarlet Salad.  I enjoyed the bed of mixed greens that was then loaded with dried cranberries, balsamic and topped with the most unbelievable crispy shallots.

Luke enjoyed the Hanger Steak Frites which was served with an arugula salad and bone marrow butter with rosemary truffle frites.  I’m not a steak person, but he said that it was amazing.  I had many of his fries and they were to die for.  That rosemary and truffle oil.  The fries were cut so thin and so crisp; full of the flavor of the truffles and rosemary.

My favorite meal, when out for dinner, is always Shrimp Scampi, but the Scarlet Oak Tavern does something a little more special.  They offer a Shellfish Scampi which is fresh linguini with shrimp, scallops, mussels, garlic, parsley, olive oil and chili flakes.  The seafood was so flavorful.  The mussels were gorgeous and the scallops so tender.  The oil, wine, seafood and parsley really enhanced the pasta.  I actually ate the whole plate.  Sometimes you have to splurge!

It was so great to be alone dining.  You can certainly bring kids to the Scarlet Oak.  We have before and there were lots of kids on the night.  But it was so nice to have a conversation without having to play tic tac toe or worry about being interuprted in mid-thought (as we usually are).

After such a pleasant dinner we enjoyed coffee and split a creme brulee.  It is my favorite dessert.  I had creme brulee for the first time when I was a little girl.  My aunt took me to the Ritz for a special occasion and we dined on Caesar salad and creme brulee.  Then and now, I am always pleasantly surprised by that incredible texture of the vanilla cream when you break through the caramelized sugar.  I love making the first crack.  Scarlet Oak’s is right up there with the Ritz.  Hope you and your honey get to go on a date night soon, too!