This is the name of the restaurant we went to for our Saturday night date. It roughly translates to “no other like it”, and it lived up to its name.
The Sans Pareil is a Belgian restaurant. I was expecting it to be fairly snub, so I threw an an actual dress shirt over a t-shirt to go there. I wore jeans. Surprisingly, the place was fairly casual, and most guys had jeans on. That was a relief because I don’t like stuffy places and I don’t own dress pants.
The menu is just a couple of letter sized pieces of paper glued inside a Tintin et Milou (Tintin and Snowy). I had L’affaire Tournesol and LovelyWife had Les bijoux de la Castafiore. I hoped she didn’t take this as a comment on wearing make-up.
As an aside, LovelyWife rarely wears make-up, so I knew I was in for quite a night of romance. ::wiggle eyebrows::
Everything on the menu sounded delicious, from the duck confit to the venison medallions. So of course we opted for the weirdest thing on the menu: The surprise menu. The concept is really simple. It’s a 4 service meal: 2 appetizers, the entrée and the dessert, with three glasses of wine – one per appetizers and one for the entrée – but you don’t know what you’re eating before it gets to your table. That works out well for us because I like surprises and LovelyWife can never decide what she wants to order.
We had a Pineau for an aperitif, and I was pleased with the drink. LovelyWife decided to have one as well, which is another event in itself. They brought us a delicious terrine of deer and duck on a cracker. The first appetizer was a salmon duet (wild salmon and fresh salmon) cooked like a Wellignton and served with an avocado puree. The wine was a lovely Pinot Gris. We then had a Pleurote (oyster mushroom) vol-au-vent – well not exactly but it looked like a vol-au-vent - served with veggies marslala sauce with a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. The entrée was a bison medallion perfectly cooked served with gratin dauphinois, veggies and fried plantains. Dessert was a heavenly mango mousse.
We drove back home to kids already in bed. The place was ours. So of course, LovelyWife promptly fell asleep, leaving me to “wiggle my own eyebrows” if you will. Take away the really great dining experience, and this reminded me a lot of my teenage dating years.
And hey, I’ll take any chance I get to feel 20 years younger. 
I could never (NEVER) do a surprise menu. I’m way too picky.
Avitables last blog post..My interview with Caylee Anthony
@Avitable: I wouldn’t do that anywhere, but everything on the menu looked awesome, so I figured it was pretty safe. Thinking about it, I just now realized that what we had was not on the menu!
I like the element of surprise too! Glad you had a great date with LovelyWife
Geeky Tai-Tais last blog post..Geeky Tai-Tai’s Great Road Trip Oh-Eight, La Deuxième Partie
Sounds like a lovely night, even without the Barenaked Ladies (and by that I mean the band…sheesh!)
suzes last blog post..we need a little christmas, right this very minute…
Never, ever could I do a surprise menu. With my luck I’d get monkey brains or something “exotic” like that. I’m so gad that you and LovelyWife had a wonderful evening out. And I totally laughed when she feel asleep! And yay for not having to dress up and wear dress pants:)
Beckys last blog post..9 Layers of Lovely Goodness
I love your :: ::.
Ugh – but maybe it’s just me because everything you described sounds absolutely disgusting. Heh – but I’m not adventurous and was proud of myself for ordering tilapia (I’m pretty sure this is spelled wrong but spell check gives me “fallopian” as an option so I’m pretty much screwed with help on this one) at Bahama Breeze. Throw in my adventurous lemon sauce and jasmine rice and hol-ee cow. I was livin’ on the edge there.
I’m glad you had a great date with LovelyWife. I guess I’ll add a bottle of lotion to your Christmas present.
Sheila (Charm School Reject)s last blog post..Do They Make Emoticons for All of These?
Sounds delightful… I love the idea of the surprise menu. We just might have to check it out (doubly so since we get to where our jeans.) (Where is it?)
nats last blog post..Making a list…
Sounds like you had an awesome night. Gawd I am craving for a night like that with The Guy which probably will end with me falling asleep in his arms on my big red couch drooling on him… sexy eh?
DutchBitchs last blog post..You Are Marge Simpson
@Geeky Tai-Tai: It was really cool.
@Suze: Oh.. yeah… The band.
@Becky: Well, if there’s no monkey brain on the menu, you’re pretty safe! And I’m sure you could do a surprise menu in the right context.
@SheilaCSR: I totally stole the “:: ::” thing from you, you’re totally rubbing on me (so yes, lotion would be great). LOL!
@Nat: You should really check it out! It’s at 71 Boulevard St-Raymond. They have a website, but is has not been updated since 2006, so don’t pay too much attention to the prices on there.
@DutchBitch: Any night that involves drooling can’t be all bad, can it?
If I were you, I wouldn’t admit to a single living soul (other than Becky because she thinks I’m awesome) that I was rubbing off on you. It would definitely cost you some Internet Associates [in the real world, we call these people "friends"].
Sheila (Charm School Reject)s last blog post..I’ve Got a Case of the Mondays
@SheilaCSR: I said rubbing on me, not rubbing off on me…
I don’t get it.
Anyway, this is my test comment.
::testing:: ::testing::
Sheila (Charm School Reject)s last blog post..I’ve Got a Case of the Mondays
@SheilaCSR: See, this one works… Hmmm.