Brasserie Tatin (Baltimore Restaurant Week)

Tonight is the last night I am eating out for a good while. Truly. I need desperately to start saving some real money for Amsterdam at the end of next month. So no more eating out for a while. Probably the occasional slice of pizza or something, but no more.

So at least I made the last meal out for a while a good one. I went to Brasserie Tatin with a friend for the tail end of Restaurant Week. I wasn't planning to watch the Super Bowl anyway. I rarely do. I'm not the biggest football fan, though my interest creeps up when the Ravens are having a good season. Besides, we all knew how it would turn out, right? (Quite a shock, no?)

Just to let you know: Brasserie Tatin is extending Restaurant Week for another week, and has a special Valentine's Day deal after that. We got there right at 5, when our reservations were scheduled. And they were getting ready for the dinner rush at the time. I really didn't expect so many people to show up on Super Bowl Sunday, but it was crowded. If you can get there sometime this week like the rest of us did, you'll find delicious stuff like this:

• Escargots under a pastry shell, swimming in a peppery garlic butter sauce (that is, Snails under a Hat). I don't eat many snails. These were juicy, hot and very hearty. The sauce they swam in, and the "hat" they hid under, were a delicious and delicate complement. Eric got the scallops in bourbon cream sauce, which I tried. Tasty, but I liked my dish better.
• Grilled salmon on a carrot butternut squash purée (I thought it was sweet potato at first), and a Harissa broth. The olive and lemon confit on top was a nice addition, but the salmon and squash was great with or without it. The duck that Eric got was, again, tasty, but I again preferred the salmon.
• Marjolaine, a deceptively small slice of hazelnut and chocolate cake that belies its richness and thickness. I thought it was pretty puny in comparison to the Tarte Tatin that Eric got (very good, I might add), but it soon became obvious that any bigger a slice would be way too much to handle. Blissful.

Eric wanted wine, which he covered (I only had half a glass anyway) - a San Luis Obispo County pinot noir for $40. This brought up the total to $100 for the two of us, with mine costing $30, his $30 plus the wine. What a fabulous place to eat. Go there if you can.