Anniversary Dinner

Getting married on February 14th is very romantic, but restaurants are generally packed on Valentine's Day if you want to celebrate your anniversary with a nice dinner.  That's why we usually celebrate on the weekend before or after the 14th.  However, this year Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday.  We were thinking of having our anniversary dinner on Sunday... but, short of going to Burger King, where could we go that wouldn't be jammed on Saturday?

We had a big breakfast on Saturday morning, so it wasn't until about 6 PM that hunger pangs began to set in.  We have three very good Italian restaurants within walking distance of the apartment.  We decided to try one of them... a little place called "Mangiatore"... that usually is not too crowded.  Our timing was good.  We were in between the afternoon dinner crowd, and the late supper crowd.  The place was busier than usual, but there were plenty of available tables.  Later, as we were enjoying our meal, more people showed up.

To drink, we ordered a pitcher of "clericot", a popular wine and fruit beverage that is somewhat similar to "sangría".  

As a starter we ordered their signature soup, "crema Marta", a cream soup of mozarella, parmesan and gorgonzola cheeses with sliced grapes.  It sounds like a rather unusual combination, but it is very good.

Alejandro ordered spaghetti and meatballs.  We know it's not an authentic Italian dish, but rather something created by Italian immigrants to the United States.  However, Alejandro said that it was very good.

I ordered the rigatoni in a spicy "arrabiata" sauce.  Also very good.

For dessert, we shared a serving of panna cotta, a creamy gelatin with a compote of fruits.

So, we unexpectedly ended up having a very nice supper on our actual anniversary date!

(photos taken with Alejandro's cell phone)