Blueblack, bivalved.

We went to Hopleaf for dinner last night. Amazingly, we missed Kegz, but with two rooms now, it's finally possible to not see someone at Hopleaf. Such is life.

We had the "mussels for two" off their abbreviated menu -- they're in a soft opening of their kitchen, with the full-blown menu available on the 14th -- and a couple beers each. We both went for fruity beers for the first round, Cantillon cerise for me, a raspberry lambic for Cinnamon. The Cantillon was surprisingly tart but very cherry-like, and not at all sweet. Not a great match for dinner, but oh well, still good. The mussels were huge, far meatier than what you'd get on top of linguini at the local Italian restaurant. The broth they were steamed in could have been more flavorful -- maybe just some more salt? -- but still, combined with Kegz's positive review of the ham sandwich, it bodes well for the rest of the menu.

Next round was dark, rich beers: Bell's "Susie's Sweet Stout" for her, "Dirty Bastard Scotch Ale" for me. Funny, hers tasted of black coffee, mine of chocolate, but we still preferred our own to each other's. We talked about recent events and what to do with Danny this weekend and just had a nice chat. We headed home, full-bellied and content, and watched the news and Good Eats before heading to bed.

Posted by Andrew Huff at July 10, 2003 02:50 PM