30th Anniversary Dinner
Kev and I toast three decades of marriage at Bottega Dining Room.
By Jan Walsh
Tonight, Kev and I are welcomed by David at the door with happy anniversary wishes. And after being seated at our favorite table, other staff stop by with more good wishes and congratulations. Bottega Dining Room a Stitt Restaurant Group’s restaurant, owned and operated by Chef Frank Sttt and Pardis Stitt.
A before dinner drink is a must tonight. Chocolate Martini for Kev and rummy Ghost of Amelia for me. We savor the moment, toasting each other and our 30th as we dip warm focaccia in olive oil and look over the menu. Delighted to see the Shrimp Cocktail and Marinated Crab Claws (that we always started with at Highlands Bar and Grill) on Bottega’s menu. We may have shared 30 years together, but we are not sharing the shrimp cocktail! We each order our own and share the claws. The succulent shrimp are crisp, chilled, and tender in a tangy house made cocktail sauce. Takes us back! And the claws plump, pristine, and lip puckering.
Next, we order our favorite, non-vintage champagne, Delamotte Brut. Or as I call it, “Baby Salon.” IFKYK. Pristine notes of white flower, stone fruit, toasted brioche, along with a delicate mousse and elegant effervescence…We also have another at home on ice. Shh! For our next course we “hear” there is Grouper Collar in the house but not listed on the menu. We pair this rare find with Antipasti. The collar is the most flavorful part of the grouper: golden, fatty, rich, and tender. Catch it if you can! And the antipasti is a lovely display of award-winning Fra’ Mani Salumi, prosciutto, Romano beans, marinated olives and green tomato mostarda. A side rant… Just last week Kev asked me to get some salami, and I could not find any in the grocery stores without seed oils. The invisible seed industry hand has put canola oil in salami now! Thus, I intended to check with Chef Frank Stitt for his source on Italian meats. Ordering them is even better… On first bite I plan to follow his lead and begin ordering the robust with balanced spiced salami at Framani.com. My favorite mortadella is also “not available” locally any longer. But I see Fra’ Mani has one on the website. Problems solved.
For main courses, Kev has the Roasted Joyce Farms Chicken and I opt for Grilled Black Grouper. Joyce Farms is another source that I found from the Stitts years ago and order my chicken and beef at Joyce-Farms.com. My freezer stays half full of this heritage, pasture raised, French hens, free of antibiotics, hormones, growth stimulants, and animal by-products. Bottega’s comforting bird is delicate parchment-like skin on the outside, which traps moisture and savory flavors on the inside. The plate is rounded out with “just dug” new potatoes, roasted cauliflower, and cipollini onions, all bursting with farm freshness. Highly recommended! My gorgeous grouper is mildly robust in flavor and flaky in texture. It floats atop earthy field peas, juicy tomatoes, milky sweet corn, and tasty rattlesnake beans. Southern farm and Gulf fish take land and sea to a new level.
For dessert, we find an in-season cobbler, Strawberry Cobbler and an old favorite from Highlands, Sweet and Salty Cake. The Strawberry Cobbler is served piping hot with vanilla ice cream that melts and melds into the candied, warm berries. And the chocolate cake is enhanced by chocolate ganache, caramel, and flakes of sea salt. Oh my, you will never find a better salty chocolate dessert. We savor every bite and each moment tonight. Like bows on our anniversary gifts, “Happy Anniversary” encircles each of these divine desserts, wrapping up the perfect anniversary dinner.
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