Trust me, I'm a SNOB

Y'all, it has been a busy week to say the least. To kick things off, I went with some of the ladies to SNOB on Monday for their 3 courses for $30 menu which was like UBER fantastic. Plus, I had a gift certificate.


Ok, so let me tell you the story about this picture. Do you see those tire tracks on the right side of the envelope? I got out of our limo provided by Piedmont Transportation (because we ride in style on occasion) and the envelope was on my lap. Having forgotten that it was there, I jumped out of the car and it fell to the street without my knowing. I walked up to the hostess stand inside and realized that I must have left the envelope in the limo. My friend Meredith, being the wonderful friend that she is, bolted down East Bay Street after the car, jumping in front of another vehicle and possibly risking her life. It's refreshing to know I've got friends that will risk life and limb to save me money. In reality, I found the envelope right there in the middle of the road. A car had already ran it over, hence the tire tracks. Hilarity ensues. By the way, I got your back next time you leave a gift certificate in a limo Mer. Your commitment to the restaurant industry is commendable.

Sorry about that segue. In case y'all forgot, this is the glory that is SNOB:



Scanning the menu upon our arrival at the table, I determined that if I did not order the prime rib for dinner then I would surely suffer from some form of wasting disease and slowly die an awful and relatively painful death. Not that I'm dramatic or anything. I seriously considered ordering the Amberjack with Jasmine rice for a fleeting second but then I compromised with my friend Jessica; she ordered the fish and I ordered the prime rib, allowing me to snack on hers while simultaneously enjoying a deliciously tender piece of beef. I grew up in a family where it was considered a cardinal sin if anyone ordered the same dish out at a restaurant. Not so much that we shared a lot; it was more simplistic than that. We just wanted to taste everything on the menu and in our minds, it was frowned upon to have multiple people order the same dish. (Yeah, like the Inbetween Cafe is really going to run out of their California omelet if we all try to order it for breakfast. Yes, I realize that restaurant is in Jersey but come ON, they literally have the best breakfast of all time. The California omelet is literally the most delicious thing ever with jack cheese, avocado and spinach and their potatoes are cooked with bacon remnants. The place always smelled so bacony that when we hung up our coats on their public rack they would smell like smoky bacon for the next 3 days, which is both a delicious and awful thing. I digress.) So, to use the transitive property here:

- No two members of the Cohen family order the same dish at the same meal, unless there are extenuating circumstances ie, sea bass, lamb chops, pork, lasagna, etc.

- I like to eat out with my friends as often as I can afford to

Utilizing these two principles, one can assume that when I eat out with my friends I don't really condone any of us doubling up on dishes.

Regardless of my weird principles, we had a fantastic dinner at SNOB on Monday. However, like the idiot that I can be sometimes, I forgot to bring my camera. Let me describe the dishes to you in expert detail:

First Course:

Choice of salads:

Salad with a salmon croquette - The croquette's texture was basically that of a light and fluffy crabcake, except with chunks of salmon on the inside. The vinaigrette was a light, almost buttery flavor that most likely had some form of citrus substituted for vinegar to cut down on the acidy aftertaste that vinegar can sometimes have. Yum.

Carmelized pear salad with dried cranberries - Pistachios. Did I mention the pistachios? And delicious blue cheese. Amazing.

Entrees:

Prime rib with potato gratin and green beans - The prime rib was expertly prepared with a delicate hand. Fatty in all the right places without being gristly and ohhh so tender. The horseradish cream sauce was excellent; I couldn't get enough of it. The potato gratin was crispy on the top, soft in the center, and had a little bit of mustard seeds mixed in amongst the layers. Can't you tell I enjoyed it?

Amberjack with Jasmine rice - Jessica is trained as a chef. She doesn't really enjoy beef, so she decided that the fish was right up her alley. It was basically a fusion of snapper and sea bass in terms of texture. Toasty and tender and the same time, the Amberjack was delightfully different from the steak in every way. Warm and wintery, but light in texture. Excellent.

Desserts:

Chocolate mint pie: Honestly, if I had one complaint about dinner this would have been it. It wasn't bad but it didn't blow me away either. Most of the time, I feel that dessert is an afterthought. Nobody really seems to place a huge emphasis on it though most patrons are always interested in seeing the dessert menu. Most restaurants have the obligatory molten lava cake, cheesecake, sorbet sampler, strawberry shortcake, etc. I want a place to blow me away with dessert. I am not really a sweets kind of gal but DAMMIT there are times when I look at a dessert menu and I think "Please have something on here so enticing that I have no choice but to order it immediately and rave about it for months to come." Like this. Or this. Red Drum pretty much has the cornerstone on the dessert market as far as I'm concerned. I am ashamed to admit that I haven't made it over to WildFlour yet, which is pastry chef Lauren Mitterer's (of Red Drum fame) new bakery on Spring Street. Other than those two places, I really can't think of any place that astounds me with overwhelmingly wonderful dessert selections where each option sounds better than the last.

Pumpkin cake of some sort: Sporter got this one and it was pretty good. I don't really remember it all that well. Honestly, after splitting two bottles of wine and a shot of sambuca I kind of just wanted to go crawl into bed and blissfully dream about my steak.

Overall, SNOB was fantastic. Wonderful service, an adorably quirky dinner atmosphere, a pretty good wine list, and delicious food. Plus, it was ladies night which always seems to elevate the meal past expectations. There is nothing that even compares to dinner out with the girls.