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My boyfriend Matt and I decided that we needed to have a date night, and had heard that Prime Steakhouse in Ventura was absolutely fabulous. So on a cold Wednesday night, we entered into Prime and were immediately greeted warmly by the owner Jan, who was working behind the bar that evening. I had met her husband Ryan the week prior during his visit with some friends to the Carina Cellars Tasting Room, and he was the one who had turned my on to his wife’s restaurant. Matt and I both ordered a glass of 2005 Cambria’s “Julia’s Vineyard” Pinot Noir (one of our favorites!) and as we were about to order an appetizer, a woman at the bar recommended that we try the mussels. It turns out this woman was Erika, who happens to be one of our sales reps with Southern Wine & Spirits (our California distributor) for the Ventura area, will often come in regularly just to order this dish. We thanked her for the recommendation, and went on to enjoy the tender mussels in a delicious cream sauce filled with onions, tomatoes, garlic and herbs. As we often will do, Matt and I decided to split everything that evening, and so followed up the mussels with an order of the Prime house salad, which was incredibly delicious and filled with onions, almonds, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and avocado with a light house-made dressing. Matt’s immediate reaction was that “if you were thirsty on a hot summer’s day, all you would need is a bite of this salad. It’s that fresh.” His words captured what my mouth felt, so we’ll leave it at that! As a side note, this whole time we both were immensely enjoying the basket of hot bread that is given to each table, and were both heaping healthy portions of homemade garlic & herb butter into the steaming, soft folds of the bread. We finished our whole basket before the main course had arrived. We shared a flat iron steak with caramelized onions and ordered a side of the twice-baked potato (a personal favorite of mine). With the main entrée we both had a glass of the 2006 Clairvoyant, which was the perfect compliment to the slightly sweet flavors of the onions, and the rich, juiciness of the steak. We also shared an order of the chicken breast stuffed with feta cheese, spinach and herbs with a side of the six-cheese macaroni & cheese. The chicken was incredibly juicy and the stuffing was fantastic. Needless to say we went home with quite a few delicious leftovers for lunch the next day! But of course, I am not usually one to pass on dessert, so we shared the bread pudding with vanilla ice cream topped with raspberries. The whole thing was incredibly moist, and warmly reminiscent of the bread pudding my mom used to make for me as a child. Matt and I drove back to Santa Barbara that evening with delightfully full bellies, and very happy to have chosen such a wonderful restaurant for our date night out together. |
