The perfect birthday dinner at Sophie’s Bistro in Somerset.
This was in early November when a couple of dear friends treated me at one of our favorite places, where we indulge our inner Francophile. We return to Sophie’s again and again, in spite of the longish (for us) drive north. But it seems like that drive gets shorter every time, with such good food waiting at the end.
First I had escargots, bubbling in garlicky butter sauce which I sopped up with pieces of baguette. I always serve these in the shells myself, but suspect cleaning and reusing them is too much for most restaurants now, and maybe they’re even considered “unhygenic.”
Next I had steak with green peppercorn sauce, broiled(plum) tomato, and potato gratin, all heavenly, although it does look a bit of a mess on the plate here.
And then there was the molten chocolate cake for dessert – I hadn’t had one of those in ages! All was washed down with, if I remember correctly, a nice Côtes du Rhône. Heaven!
Sophie’s will be open on New Year’s Eve, and so are a lot other nice places, like Tre Piani/Tre Bar, The Brothers Moon, Rat’s Restaurant, The Frog & The Peach, and the Rocky Hill Inn.
Some great gift ideas – a cheese platter of Cherry Grove Farm cheeses, a gift basket of all NJ made products from the Whole Earth Center, or cooking classes at Rat’s. If you need stocking stuffers (or anything for the kitchen), I can get into no end of trouble at the Smith’s Ace Housewares store at the Princeton Shopping Center. Seriously.
NJ SPICE 