Happy Birthday/Anniversary!

Today is Frank's 30-something birthday and tomorrow is our 4-year wedding anniversary. So, in honor of both, last night we celebrated with dinner at Chez Francois in Great Falls. We had initially talked about going to the National Harbor but Chez Francois was written up in the Washington Post Magazine last weekend and we have heard so much about this place and I had been wanting to try it...anyway...we went with Chez Francois instead. While the atmosphere was absolutely perfect, we both admitted that the food, for the price, really wasn't that great. The restaurant is nestled into the woods off of a back road in Great Falls and we arrived early enough to sit outside, which was so peaceful...definitely different from your typical NOVA restaurant-night-out. The service was great - our waiter was extremely friendly and attentive which always makes for a nice experience. Since we ate in the main restaurant (versus the Brasserie), we had the 6-course dinner which started out with a quiche amuse bouche. We both ordered the Lobster Bisque for our appetizer which I thought was actually quite yummy - it wasn't as creamy and thick as your typical bisque and had large chunks of lobster meat in it. Salads were ok...followed by homemade sorbet. For our entrees, I ordered the Veal Scaloppini which came in a mushroom cream sauce with crabmeat on top but I just wasn't blown away by it. The flavor and wow-factor were missing. Frank chose the Alsatian specialty, essentially a selection of various seafoods in a lobster sauce that was again, just so-so. However, our entrees were served with a side of broccoli puree that we both loved! And I have to say that I wasn't complaining after my dessert of dark chocolate cake with chocolate sauce and a scoop of homemade chocolate ice cream! Frank, who was "too stuffed to eat anything else" somehow found room for the plum tart with homemade cinnamon ice cream. I think our big disappointments lay in the entrees being let-downs. However, despite that, we both had a great, relaxing evening out and laughed and laughed as we recounted the numerous trips we've taken throughout our relationship and the funny incidents that always seem to happen to us! Happy Birthday, Frank and Happy Anniversary...I love you!