luques

fellow foodie, photographer and friend, jen and i went to dinner at luques last night. this was 2 of 3 great dinners in my september of special dinners. i didn't realize until we walked in that i had actually shot an event here a few years ago. its a warm, wonderfully cozy space with exposed brick, a beautiful fireplace and a lovely high ceiling patio. thanks to a woman with offensively strong perfume, we got to experience both the patio and the inside.
the menu is pared down but a perfect selection. we shared heirloom tomato salad with burrata, torn croutons, salsa verde and opal basil and fried squash blossoms with manchego, marcona almonds and green romesco. both were great. my pick was the heirloom tomato salad. i've had such a dish a million times and made it a million more but the perfect tomatoes, amazing croutons, and dressing made this the best one i'd had maybe short of one i still remember from animal. i fell in love with jen's choice. i'm not crazy about battered things but the combination of the delicate blossom, the soft manchego, marcona almonds and romesco was amazing. i kept going back to the plate for the romesco.
for dinner we split the king salmon with sweet corn, quinoa, summer squash and cherry tomatoes. i know, totally the boring choice but salmon is my favorite and jen was getting full and already thinking about dessert. sometimes i think ordering the boring thing is a real test of the restaurant. i could totally make this salmon at home but hers was so so perfect. it was cooked medium rare just like i like it and had beautiful notes of butter. i love butter. it was not boring, simple and perfect. we also had some corn succotash but it was average, either of us could have made better. oooh and the crusty table bread was amazing with a pat of their fresh butter and a sprinkle of the sea salt.
jen had some beignets with blueberries and ice cream which i only took a tiny bite of and wasn't crazy about. i did have some lovely pear brandy which i split with her and still couldn't finish :( such a lightweight!
our dinner took 3 hours. we both noted that under other circumstances we would have been looking by our waiter but with great conversation and perfect food we really didn't need him until it was time to leave and it was a great space to sit in for three hours.
go here!