THIS ONE WAS NUTS

Friday afternoon Meena was on the ball and called Chestnut on Smith Street for a reservation. It had been a moderately annoying week and we felt like it was completely within our right to have a dinner out - and a nice one at that.

We'd been to Chestnut once before way back in October and the results were obviously strong enough for us to feel like a repeat visit was necessary.

The place is the picture of cozy. A cute bar welcomes you and you pretty much feel like you're at home the second you sit down. A home filled with strangers, waiters and lots of great food ... but you get the idea.

They kick off every meal with homemade pickles and breads. Any spot that makes their own pickles and brings them for a starter is fine by me. I suppose Ted's fits that description as well, but my love for Ted's ends at the pickles. Anyway.

This time around, Meena started with:
- buckwheat crepe, farro, house made gravlax & crème fraiche

And I went with:
- baby beet salad, marcona almonds & mizuna

Meena's crepe and gravlax outdid her haystack shrimp from last time. Tenfold. It was really, really delicious. The farro with the rich gravlax and creamy fraiche? Come on ... it gets no better and you know it.

My salad was amazing. The beets were really sweet and characteristically earthy. I have no clue what mizuna is. I should google it.

For a main course, Meena tried:
- hanger steak, fingerlings, valdeon & red wine

And Alec went with:
- grilled pork chop with figs and white polenta

Again, we made much smarter choices this time around. Not that I had bad food last time, but Meena was much happier this go around. Her steak was awesome and the potatoes were probably one of the better sides she's had in a long, long time.

My pork chop might have been, dare I say, the greatest one I've ever had. Seriously. It came on the bone, stuffed with figs and served over the top of the best polenta I've ever consumed. I don't even like polenta. But this was amazing polenta. And the pork chop was thick, packed with figgy flavor and decadent pork fat. It was cooked to perfection and will honestly go down as one of the best meals I've had in a long, long time.

We finished out with one of those flour-less chocolate cake things. I know. It's massively cliche. But there's a reason they're on every menu. It's amazing!

Thanks, Chestnut!