We did it! We went out to dinner for the first time since the pandemic began last March. Over a year! It was a pleasant experience, and one we will most likely repeat more than once a year. The occasion was to celebrate Lou’s birthday, since no one was really cheering for me to cook a special meal. Plus the CDC regulations changing on vaccinated folks getting out of their cocoons, made us brave the public setting.
Our destination was 45 North – the restaurant at the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel, which sits at the base of the ski runs. We went early and had a cocktail before dinner – at the bar, wearing no masks !!! We met a friendly couple from Massachusetts, and had a nice chat – with people from the outside world, people who had also been fully vaccinated.
We enjoyed our dinner, and I got to practice my restaurant food photography as well.
We started with the cheeseboard – a rather eclectic selection but it did the trick of starting us off on our first restaurant meal of the century, I mean year. This was followed by the mint watermelon gazpacho – it tasted better than it looks, but was just a little weird.
We aren’t complaining, just wondering what comes next. Time for the entrees and they did not disappoint – Lou had the New York Strip steak. It came with jalapeños, avocado potato salad (?), and sautéed mushrooms, which he said were very good.
I chose the special of the night – Mahi-mahi served with pineapple couscous. This was very good, even though I don’t believe Mahi-mahi is found in the local rivers. This is also one of my better iPhone food photos:
We ended the evening with coffee and dessert – a little mood lighting on the creme brûlée cheesecake:
And there you have it; more than you ever wanted to know about our first post-pandemic dining adventure. We know the pandemic is not over for all, and certainly not over in other parts of the world, but we believe this is about as close to normal as we will get for some time. We made it home just before dark. Our four legged companions were not at all happy to be left alone for a couple of hours.
Update: Kathy asked about the mask situation It was mixed, with some servers wearing masks and some not. We wore our masks into the restaurant, then took them off when seated. This seemed to be the norm. Our server said she was fully vaccinated ( no mask) but her daughter was the hostess and she was wearing a mask – her vaccination becomes fully effective in another week. Can’t argue with the server not wearing a mask if they are vaccinated. The tables in the restaurant were distanced, and they were less than 25% occupied throughout the evening
Be Safe !!!
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