Valentines Day can be a very weird holiday. There are pressures to be romantic under the most unromantic circumstance (America telling you to). A few Valentines ago my boyfriend and I went to “one of the most romantic restaurants in Los Angeles” to find that there was a 45 minute wait for a table even though we had reservations and that we would have to eat outside in 40 degree weather (and I was wearing a skimpy dress) crammed between two couples. Needless to say the food was horrible and the valet thrashed the bottom of my car in front of our eyes on a dip in the road. We look back on that night and laugh, saying never again! Never again will we eat out on Valentines Day and spend a fortune on a prefix meal that tastes like bad wedding food.
This Valentines Day I left the planning of the night up to my boyfriend, hoping he would find a good alternative to eating bad expensive food. Boy did he succeed! He took me to a restaurant just a few blocks from our place that I have wanted to try forever, Rustic Canyon. Rustic Canyon is a restaurant in Santa Monica known for its seasonal fresh food. The atmosphere is pretty casual. The tables are all wood and the lighting is very warm and dim. The restaurant was busy, but there wasn’t a feeling of overcrowding (we had a four person table to ourselves).
The prefix menu was meant for sharing and you could choose eight items total. We ended up choosing goat cheese filled squash blossoms, cauliflower covered in capers, garlic and bread crumb, grilled squid, Santa Barbara uni spaghetti, pork belly with grilled prawns, lamb meatballs with yogurt sauce, vanilla passion fruit cake and olive oil cake with strawberries. Everything was simple, fresh, and aaaaamazing. I love my meat and sweets, but surprisingly my favorites were the cauliflower and squash blossoms. The wine menu was extensive, and everything we had was delish. My boyfriend was very excited they had a beer that he only could find up north and every song that came on we looked at each other and said, "who sings this, I love this song?" We arrived back home with smiles on our faces and bellies stuffed with food.
That night I realized that sometimes it is nice to have your country tell you "show this person you care," because it makes us set aside time for each other. There is nothing quite like sharing a good meal and good conversation with the person you love.
