The Marriage of Figaro + E's visit

The symphony is over, which means it's opera season!  E arrived on Thursday afternoon, and we went to dinner that evening at Savage, which is run by a friend of E's.  She had set us up with a 12-course tasting menu for the evening, and S and I topped it off with the drink pairings.  Every course was an interesting preparation of whatever the subject dish was.  Though I didn't love every one, every one was a curiosity and an adventure.  Perhaps my favorite thing about about the restaurant, though, was the setup.

It's a small space, with an equally small kitchen in the center of the theater-in-the-round seating arrangement.  Watching the staff prepare each plate is as much fun as experiencing the concoctions they place in front of you.  I liked the design and decor very much, but -- as with most restaurants -- the music could have been quieter.

The following day, E was a trooper and prepared our whole meal for the opera!  Though The Marriage of Figaro is in Italian, it is set in Spain.  Accordingly, our Spanish-inspired meal consisted of grape and manchego skewers, two types of empanadas (sweet potato and lentil, and gouda and onion), flan, and non-alcoholic sangria.  The empanada recipes I had found were a little lackluster (no fault of E's), but the leftovers were sufficiently perked up with a quick batch of chimichurri sauce.

The show was a long one -- four acts with an intermission in the middle.  As a whole, the voices were impressive, the sets were well-suited, and the performance was entertaining.  It was a long evening, but a lovely one!

Thanks, E, for a lovely visit!