The Dinner Compromise

I go to dinner with A.Duh, Doogs, and Wild Ginger quite often and I love enjoying a night of food, wine and chatter with my girls--but it's always quite hard to find a restaurant that everyone is happy with. Either the location is off for some or the food is too expensive for others or they don't take reservations or A.Duh is allergic to almost everything on the menu (not her fault Obviously! but def a consideration). Somehow something so simple becomes something extremely complex. Thus, cut to the day a couple weeks ago where Doogs and I were on the phone for an hour and a half going through restaurants online via reviews and menus trying to find a good spot for the approaching night. It would be easy to go to a staple restaurant but it's always so much fun to try something new. By the time, Doogs called the fifth spot, she was about to give up. Finally though--a mirage a the end of the desert.

When we arrived at Alias in LES we expected little. The outside of this restaurant definitely speaks little for what the inside looks like or how the food tastes. On a Saturday night, the entire restaurant was packed to the max for our 10PM reservations. As we walked inside, I heard the host tell a walk-in, it would be an hour till he had a table for them. We sat at a four top in the corner and immediately ordered a sangria. The sangria was really good- a tad bit different than other sangrias I've tasted before almost like a cinnamon stick had been marinating in the pitcher for awhile. Wild Ginger had opted not to drink that night. Yes,bizzare...we all know. As we decided what to order, we noticed many of the menu items were infused with nuts: pignoli nuts in the pesto sauce or sesame oil in the hummus dip that was offered with the bread at the table (which was a nice surprise). This hindered A.Duh from some apps and entrees but she still managed to get adventurous and try the Duck confit appetizer split with wild ging and the shrimp tacos. Doogs and I split the parmesan gnocci served in a pesto sauce with broccoli rabe sprinkled with parm cheese as well. This was awesome esp the veggies. For mains, I got the cod--which was a tiny bit salty (which means it was really salty cause I LOVE salt). Doogs got half shrimp/half duck tacos. The Duck tacos were awesome--kind of sweet and a very interesting twist on classic mexican cuisine. Wild ginger got the vegetable plate in which our waiter persuaded her to try kale as one of three side dishes. As much as Kale is not a popular veggie, it was actually really good. By the end of the meal, all of us were full, a lil buzzed (except for Ging), and happy when the bill came. I think we paid around 40 bucks a piece.

We all spoke about how we all enjoyed our meals and how we would totally come back. It seemed to fit everyone's criteria for location, expense and taste--the only problem is still A.Duh's nut allergy. Girl, we need to get you an epi pen!