Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Thursday Night Family Dinners at Huckleberry Cafe (Santa Monica, CA)

Huckleberry is always crowded during breakfast and brunch, but not many know about their dinners. Huckleberry usually opens until 8pm on weekdays, but on Thursdays they stay open later serving a family style prix fixe dinners!

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The Thursday night dinners are $30 per person (half price for kids 12 and under) and the menu changes every week. I went on August 30th and had a feast!

Before the "courses", each table got some House Marinated Olives (marinated in orange juice, garlic, thyme, rosemary, olive oil)
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The orange juice was a nice touch.

This wasn't part of the menu, but we also had some guacamole spread on baguette
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I usually also don't pay attention to the beer and wine list here, but in the future I shall. We tasted some good wines that night, starting with a 2011 Red Car, Rose of Pinot Noir, Bybee Vineyard, Sonoma Coast.

Tutti Frutti Heirloom Tomato Salad, with cucumber, red onion, herbed vinaigrette (made with parsley, dill, olive oil)
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The light herbed vinaigrette was wonderful and I couldn't stop eating this salad even though I knew more food was coming. Hey, I had to get my heirloom tomato fix before the season's over right? And Huckleberry does get great produce!

The main attraction: Huckleberry Crab and Seafood Pot (king crab leg and claws, clams, Weiser Farm potatoes, shrimp, corn)
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There one claw and leg for each person, and a bounty of shrimp and clams in a light broth. Of course, I also attacked the corn on the cob!
The seafood pot was served with some Milo and Olive mini baguette, touted as one of the best not just in LA but in America by Saveur (it's definitely one of the best I've tried)
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A side of Sauteed spinach
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The beverage manager paired our entree with a 2010 Donkey & Goat Chardonnay.
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There's also always a vegetarian entree option. That night the vegetarian dish was a stir fry of tofu, spinach, almonds, squash, etc. The tofu was firm and it didn't taste like what you would expect - it was a rather unique (and delicious) "stir fry"!
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Since Huckleberry doesn't carry dessert wines, we had something close to it instead, a 2010 Lyra Viognier
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This lightly sweet wine went very well with the Strawberry Shortcake
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The strawberry shortcake may well be my favorite strawberry shortcake! The cream was not overwhelming and the flaky biscuit was amazing! Not surprised, this is Huckleberry after all.

Thanks to Josh Loeb and Chef Zoe Nathan for not only the great food but the hospitality as well!
Josh Loeb and Zoe Nathan
The Thursday night dinner menu changes weekly and you can check the current week's menu here. They're bound to all be great, I'm sure. Did I mention this week's dessert is warm bread pudding? Huckleberry has my favorite bread pudding in town. And pssst, at least so far, there's no line here at dinner.

Huckleberry
1014 Wilshire Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 451-2311
huckleberrycafe.com

Disclosure: this meal was hosted.

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