Try this at home: Sun in My Belly's Hermes Salad

The best salad I've ever had was at Sun in My Belly, a lovely little restaurant in Decatur. I was taking advantage of a ScoutMob hand-picked deal for dinner for two (they've got one right now and it's almost gone! go get it!) and that included your choice of salad to start.

I chose the Hermes, and it changed my life forever. I would definitely not say that I'm a salad person, but I would eat this happily any/every day.

I decided it'd be really simple to recreate at home, so I decided to give it a go. Sure enough, totally doable and so delicious. I don't think they used gorgonzola as their bleu cheese, but that's what I had on hand from my baked sweet potato the night before.

Usually by the end of a salad I'm having to convince myself to keep eating it, but no so with this one. So even if you have a salad aversion, I dare you to give this one a try! The arugula is perfectly peppery and pairs beautiful with the bite of the bleu cheese and the sweetness of the roasted pears.

Arugula with bleu cheese, toasted walnuts, roasted pears and champagne vinaigrette

For the salad you'll need:
a plateful of arugula
a little bleu cheese (I used gorgonzola)
a handful of walnuts, lightly toasted (pop em in the oven for a couple minutes)
roasted pears, chopped (recipe below)
champagne vinaigrette (recipe below)

For the roasted pears:
2 pears, cored and halved
1 Tbs melted butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat oven to 400. Cut each pear half into 4 lengthwise slices. Toss in the butter, sugar and lemon juice and spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for 20-30 mins, stirring them around every 10 or so minutes. They'll be ready when they're golden brown and slightly soft.

For the champagne vinaigrette:
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup champagne vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper

Combine mustard and vinegar. Then, whisking the whole time, slowly drizzle in olive oil to emulsify (mix oil and vinegar). Season with salt and pepper!

Now, assemble away! To your plateful of arugula, crumble some bleu cheese, sprinkle on some toasted walnuts, top with the roasted pears, and finally drizzle on the vinaigrette!

Bon app!

     

Go to there: The Pinewood

 

[whiskey on whiskey on whiskey.]

Last week, Amanda called me up (and by that I mean g-chatted me) to see if I wanted to join her for dinner and cocktails at The Pinewood in Decatur, known for their whiskey selection and home of Whiskey Wednesdays (50% off whiskey cocktails!). She had an awesome ScoutMob Hand-Picked deal (sorry, it's over) that was going to expire, so off we went!

When they opened at 6, we were one of the first parties in the door. It was such a fun, not-overly-hipster atmosphere with a very cool looking bar and all the staff looked like they walked out of a Madewell magazine.

[The menus were in up-cycled legal file folders.]

The menu--food and cocktails--had us drooling as soon as it was handed to us (and by that I mean when we looked it up online earlier that day). I ended up going with a whiskey drink called the Day That I Die, with a big slice of ginger in it! Amanda went with the Van Lear Rose, gin mixed with rosewater.

[left, Amanda's Van Lear Rose. right, my Day That I Die]

Both were so beautiful and delicious that we had to try more. But first, the food.

[see that? that's andouille. in the dressing.]

We started with the jumbo sea scallop because, when you have a deal like this one, of course you go for the most expensive thing you can get! It was served on a bed of creamy grits and frisee with an andouille vinaigrette. You know something is good when there is sausage in the dressing. It didn't have the crisp you hope for in a scallop, but overall very, very tasty.

[photo from The Pinewood's website. I was too hungry to take one myself.]

I was thrown off by one of the items on the menu--a bolognaise pasta with a fried egg on top. What. I had never heard of such a thing. So I asked our waiter about it and he said it was his favorite dish on the menu. So of course that's what I ordered. and it was delicious indeed--such an unusual combination (to me) but the egg married so well with the spices in the sauce. I was very happy with my choice.

[That's a gala apple puree on top.]

Amanda ordered the grilled pork chop with sweet potatoes. It looked, smelled and tasted divine (isn't that just what you hope for in a meal?), and I know this because she was kind enough to share a bite with me. The sweet potatoes were caramelized so they were slightly sweet, which was just right with the pork chop.

So now, our second round of cocktails. We both chose from the "Monday laundry list" of New Orleans-inspired specials--a French 75 for me, and an absinthe frappe for Amanda.

[so pretty and elegant!]

I love a good French cocktail (champagne and gin. heaven.) so I was thrilled with mine. The only thing that could have made it better would have been drinking it in actual France.

[crushed ice = frappe.]

Amanda's, on the other hand, was super bizarre. Probably shoulda guessed that from the phrase "absinthe frappe," but still, we were surprised. It was exactly what it said it would be, with a heavy licorice flavor from the absinthe. Probably wouldn't choose it again, but the fault was ours, not theirs.

I'm eager to go back to Pinewood for Whiskey Wednesdays and try more of their cocktails. and food. Maybe the ScoutMob gods will hear our roar and have another Hand-Picked deal.

In the meantime, get yourself there! It's on the opposite side of the block from TacoMac. and remember they open at 6--so if you get there at 5:45 you'll have to kill time in the shops next door. or so I hear :)