Rachel’s Food Tourism: Preservation Kitchen
I think I’ve mentioned before that we have several tried and true restaurants nearby that we love. One of them is Preservation Kitchen. Since this month’s theme is Preservation, it seemed like the perfect time to share this treasure with you! We discovered this place way back in 2009 when we wanted somewhere to have a nice dinner to celebrate our first year together. 🙂 The restaurant is in an old house so it has wonderful ambience. The food is always stellar with some constants along with rotating seasonal items. The service is always great also! We’ve never had to wait long for a table, and I’m not sure why it’s never more busy. I also really appreciate that this restaurant has mixed it up in the last few years. Brunch is now served which started a few years back (make sure to get the coffee cake!). There’s also a lovely patio and the bar area has been expanded and now offers a happy hour Tuesdays-Fridays. We love Preservation Kitchen because the food and service is always going to be stellar. The location makes every meal feel special, even if it’s a casual weeknight dinner.
Obviously, we’ve had many meals here but our most recent was dinner, so let me tell you about it!
I started things off with a cocktail (of course!). I wish I could remember the name of the one I ordered but it has cherry in it and was delicious! It was a little sweet and nice and refreshing.
For starters we got the Marinated Olives ($6) and the Polenta Fries ($8). We were both surprised at the large amount of olives we got for that price! There were several different kinds and they were in olive and marinated with orange peel and fennel.
We’ve had the Polenta Fries before and they did not disappoint this time. They are like sticks of polenta that have been fried, so they are crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. I am definitely going to try to make these at home!
For the main course Derek got the Caramelized Short Ribs and I had the Argentinian Skirt Steak. Both were delicious, but Derek definitely “won” that round. Whenever we go somewhere we always taste each other’s food and often say who made the best choice. The Skirt Steak I got was just a tad too spicy for me, but otherwise delicious. It was perfectly cooked (I asked for medium). It came with black beans and rice, a few thin slices of sweet potato so they were nice and crispy and was topped with poblanos and chimichurri.
Derek’s Short Ribs were so good! They were fork tender and had this amazing semi-sweet glaze. It came with sautéed veggies and mashed potatoes which was perfect for catching any sauce left over. This will probably be what I get next time (I also had my eye on the duck with cherry port sauce or the Ratatouille).
We don’t always order dessert when we go out to dinner but in the name of “research” we did this time. 😉 Derek for the Chocolate Decadence and I had the Tiramisu. The Chocolate Decadence was a flourless chocolate cake and came with an apple compote and fresh blueberries. I definitely “won” this round! It was the best Tiramisu I’ve ever had. It came in a parfait dish and the custard was really creamy and rich. It also tasted more chocolatey than most Tiramisu I’ve had.
The Chocolate Decadence was rich and really really chocolate-y.
