My boyfriend and I went to Rouge Tomate yesterday for dinner, courtesy of the SOcial Workout October Challenge (he won a giftcard to the restaurant!) . First off: THANK YOU, SW! What an amazing meal it was! Even just walking into the place we knew we were in for a treat - a very simple, modern , yet colorful design was an essential reflection of also the type of meal we would be enjoying. Even though I was hoping to keep the meal paleo, I knew I’d make compromises for anything that really sounded appealing to me, so I wasn’t stressing it.

We started with a amuse-bouche of cauliflower soup and home-baked bread with an almond, broccoli spread. The spread was AMAZING and I’m so gonna try to recreate it. It turns out that none of the appetizers on the menu had any form of dairy or butter in it, so that was a big help in keeping the meal paleo-friendly. But, since I hadn’t had bread (or other grains) in a week, I decided to have some of that bread with the spread. DEEEELISH. We stayed on couse with our no-drinking-till after Feb 12th resolution by having drinks from their juice bar. I had the Red Tornado (Beet, Tangerine, Pineapple, Apple, Basil) and my boyfriend had the Amber Palmer (Jasmine and Green Tea, Rosemary-Grapefruit Juice, Mint, Seltzer). Seriously, if you’re off the juice for whatever reason and feeling deprived because of it, you HAVE to come to this place. The drinks were so fresh and clean and delicious.

For appetizer, I had the Wild Mushroom Panzanella and Farm Egg Salad, which was full of flavor (OMG the mushrooms were out of this world) and the bf had a very light and citrus-y brussels sprout leaves, pear, prosciutto and hazelnuts salad. Amazing. Again, bread in the panzanella was the only non-Paleo ingredient. One of our main courses was the Grass-Fed New York Strip with Squash Spaetzle, Brussel Sprouts, Trumpet Mushrooms, Black Truffle Jus (Spaetzle being the only thing non-paleo). I have to say that grass-fed beef is a total revelation to me…I HAVE to learn how to prepare it - juicy, tender and sooooo flavorful. We also had Alaskan Black Cod with pureed parsnip and kale and chorizo oil. I loved it (and totally paleo-friendly!).

Finally, dessert. We went pretty off-paleo here, which is no surprise. We had the Blood Orange, Pomegranate, Black Sesame sponge cake, Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream and Banana, Molten Chocolate Cake, Coffee Ice Cream and espressos.

I think this meal was the perfect representation of what a good restaurant meal should look and taste like. The individual ingredients were of exquisite quality and the simple preparation really highlighted them. We left the restaurant feeling absolutely amazing, satisfied, and on a bit of a high. What a treat! I know I’ll have to be back.