Buzio's for a Birthday Party

Saturday started off with the last of the Trader Joe's pumpkin pancake mix.  This digital griddle is awesome and has really come in handy for many things, but as far as using it for pancakes, you just can't top that.  They come out perfect everytime (almost).

Looks like we are approaching this time of year.  While Ryan was picking some things up on Friday he spotted some small boxes of Valentine's day chocolates and brought them home for us to enjoy a little early.  How cute!

Although we usually go out Friday night for dinner, we knew this week that we would be going out on Saturday for the birthday celebration of someone who Ryan works with.  They live near this restaurant called Buzio's, and everyone pretty much likes this restaurant, so that is where they party was.  I have some pictures of the food.  Ok, so I may have freaked some people out by trying to snap pictures of their food as it was being set in front of them...when I explained it was a blog thing I think some people didn't find me as crazy.  There were some Portuguese guests there as well and I did take some pictures of their food too.  I just wanted to give everyone an idea of the various dishes this place offers since I will never order (escpecially the meat ones) all of these dishes.

These are called Lapas (I think).

This dish looked beautiful.

This was a giant steak.

The Portuguese guy sitting next to me ordered this.  It looked like seafood and potatoes and I know he asked for some bread so he could dip it in this broth stuff.  It looked creamy.

This was a special on the menu.  It was a steak wrapped in bacon.

Large bowls of parmesan cheese.

Ryan had the penne in vodka sauce.  This dish also had chicken in it.

And last, but not least, and when I say last...yes my simple vegetarian dish was the last served.  I ordered the linguine primavera.  One thing I have noticed is that no matter which pasta I order with a dish, it is always a different pasta than expected.  Oh no worries, spaghetti will do just fine.  The menu said a light cream sauce and this was not super heavy, but not really light either.  It was also a little spicy, which was ok with me.  After drinking some wine before heading to the restaurant and chowing down on cheese, bread and olives before this meal came, you can imagine that there is plenty leftover in my fridge right now.

Dessert was tiramisu.

I do not usually like tiramisu, but this was actually very good.  I think what turned me off originally was that the one served at the Olive Garden (where I worked for 4 years) had gelatin in it, which I saw on the food label and since I do not eat gelatin it freaked me out and so I already was not a huge fan and that made me really not a big fan to know that some places used gelatin to give it a firm structure.  This version here was really tasty.

The restaurant Buzio's makes an awesome bananas foster dessert, and so someone had ordered this.  They bring this little cart over to the table to make the dessert table side.  It is always fun to watch the flames!

Wait...that's not the server...looks like the birthday boy has taken over the bananas foster station...I think I saw a lot of alcohol go into this dessert.

So that was our nice dinner out.  Lots of good food and good wine and good people to celebrate with.

Since we went out last night, our meal 'from scratch' was on Friday night.  If you haven't checked it out yet, we made cream of broccoli soup in a bread bowl and it was delicious.

QUESTIONS: What is your favorite Italian dish?  What is your favorite dessert?

14 comments:

Shannon said...

I'm usually not a fan of tiramisu either. But I'll take your word for it that this one was good!

I didn't have a chance to comment, but your bread bowls are great! I love eating the bread after the soup has seeped in!

Simply Life said...

Oh wow, looks like a great time with delicious food!

Abby (Abbys Vegan Eats) said...

What a fabulous night filled with great looking food! Tiramisu is usually hit or miss.. glad you enjoyed this one!

Love the cute lil valentines boxes.. wow, I guess that is coming up??!!

Happy Sunday :)

Unknown said...

happy valentines day! My favorite Italian dish is eggplant parm - yummmmo! But really, I love all Italian food :)

Gelareh said...

Hi there!

I just came across your blog and holy food.. I was greeted with tons of yummy food photos.

My fav Italian dish eggplant parm and dessert Tiramisu...

Nicci said...

I have to say all the dishes look really good. I love pasta dishes. I love a good tiramisu.

eatingRD said...

Look at all that wonderful food! Sometimes I feel weird about taking pictures with people I don't know well, but ah who cares, right? lol That tiramisu looks to die for. Sometimes it's hard to get a good one because everyone seems to have a different version. I pretty much love Italian anything with pasta as you know! Have a nice weekend :)

Anonymous said...

That makes me miss being near to a TJ's! Pumpkin pancake mix...mmmm!

LOVE mussels! I think my favorite authentic Italian dish would be a spicy red sauce with a seafood medley. I love Italian seafood dishes, mmm!!

Emily said...

Pumpkin pancakes...delish!

Good for you for snapping photos at the restaurant. I feel sort of weird sometimes, but other times I just do it anyway. All the food looks really unique, though.

As for Italian food...I like pesto a lot. My fave dessert is anything chocolate. :-)

Mari said...

Ha I brought a skillet just to make pancakes perfect every time lol...

alll the eats look amazing! ((((mouth watering)))))

Julie said...

ugh i want a skillet! i keep using the flat iron pan and its just not optimal for flippage!

that tirimasu looks so good :) i don't really loveee italian food but it hink if i had to choose i would pick ummmmmmm canolis!

Melissa said...

Fun food pictures!

My favorite Italian food is lasagna.

I have that TJ's pumpkin pancake mix, but haven't opened it yet. Your picture perfect pancakes looked awesome!

Andrea@WellnessNotes said...

Love all the food pics! :)

Favorite Italian dish? I don't think I can choose. I love any pasta dish, especially with lots of fresh tomatoes & basil & cheese! :) Favorite dessert? I used to not like dessert for most of my life and just recently started to like sweets. I think right now it's cinnamon ice cream.

Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

Oh, thank you so much for the pictures! We used to live in Porto Martines.........a year + ago and we miss it and Buzios so much!! We lived just up the road (Caminho Do Ricanto.......YES, military! I was surfing the web trying to find the recipe for Vodka Chicken because I missed it so much and your page popped up. I am a military wife for 18 years........great life and we have 3 great kids. The island life can be hard at times but boy do we miss it!
Thank you so much for the memories!!

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