Our Final Dinner @ Le 23

I decided to treat Elena to a nice dinner tonight since it was our last chance to eat out--just the two of us. I had suggested a place near our residence called Amuse Gueule, but looking at the menu posted on their window, they didn't seem to have a dinner menu. So we decided on a place near all the courthouses and the fancy-pants region of Montpellier. It is called Le 23. I call it "twenty three" but I suppose I ought to call it "Le Vignt-trois". They have a special until 8pm, so we got there at 7:30.

We were very lucky. We took our seats outside, then a party came right after us and was turned away because they were full. Actually, there were only 3 customers, but the inside was set up for a banquet--which eventually arrived.

The waiter was very friendly and good natured. Elena got something off the special slate--eggplant caviar and a veal cream sauce dish. I got a beef filet in pepper sauce. For the wine, they had several bottles ranging from only €16 to only €25, but they also had local vin du pays, 50cl for only €6. And it was very good.

The eggplant caviar surrounded by a green called "corn salad" and little rounds of hot bread were the first to arrive--with the wine of course. The little breads were tasty and nice and chewy. The eggplant caviar was yummy and some bits of it had a little kick to it.

We enjoyed our appetizer. The weather was very pleasant--cool and mild. And pretty girls kept passing by our table. We were chatting about our time in Montpellier and how nice it was and how well everything turned out. And we kept drinking wine.

Then, our entres came. My beef was perfect. The sauce was flavorful. There were peas, a cheesy stack of sliced potatoes, carrots, and zucchini. Elena had the same veggies but with veal. Her veal was very tender. We savored our yummy meals and drank more wine. Finally, we finished and were ready for dessert.

We decided on crème brûlée to share and coffee for each of us. They had the best coffee I had in Montpellier. I used my spoon to crack the shell of the crème brûlée. I made Elena smile by saying, "I should buy a blowtorch and learn to make crème brûlée."

We decided to take some pictures. Elena perched the camera atop the waterbottle and set the self timer. Then I tried to get in the shot. This was the result. That's the umbrella stand that my head is popping out from.



Then we decided to change the angle and I came around to her side. We got this nice shot.



Our dinner came to €47. So about US$80. Not cheap, but it was actually our first dinner out alone so it was OK to splurge a little. The food was excellent. Everything went well.

After that, we popped over to the Esplanade d'Europe since they had set up for a rock performance--even moving the large Nike of Samothrace reproduction. When we got there the large semicircular grassy area was 3/4 full. We listened to 2 songs. They were OK, but I'm not a loud music guy so we decided to leave. We felt like salmon swimming upstream to spawn going against the thick crowds coming to fill in the remaining space. The city of Montpellier does a wonderful job keeping the city vibrant. Every weekend is filled with stuff to do. But we had a nice dinner and that was enough for us. So we came home. Elena is reading my l'Alchimiste (The Alchemist) because we sold our TV. And I'm typing up my blog enjoying one of our last 2 beers from the fridge.

It was a perfect evening.