Ambrosia & Fat Tuesday

I am making my way around my new little world. We were planning on travel this week and wanting the option to fly into my home base and not flying into my work base and then driving 2 ½-3 hours home we had my husband drive us over on Monday. Then the travel plans changed (I should have known THAT would happen..) and here we were stranded without a car all week. Hence making my way around my little world. (on foot)

Of course I already discovered Diablos Downtown Lounge, where the Fat Tuesday Party was held.. later on that.
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My next new haunt has become Ambrosia. http://www.ambrosiarestaurant.com/
Hey, in this picture someone is sitting in my spot! Grrrr...

I am making my mission to try as many non meat items (and a few meaty ones too) on the menu as I can…and there are plenty. The main problem is that I like the Scampi Farfalle so much I keep getting sidetracked. I also am trying to go through everything on the wine by the glass menu, especially the dessert wines.

First I would like to say DAVE THE CHEF ROCKS! I came in starving one night craving the Scampi Farfalle. It was late enough to be on the late night menu which does not include that….so I begged. I was accommodated with my scampi! That sure kept me coming back.

So Tuesday night started with the warm goat cheese salad which is a little bit of decadent heaven. I had the Scampi which is my favorite. I am not usually that fond of bow tie pasta but this is just soooooo very good.

The bartender, Gabe, was very knowledgeable about wine and had me do some tasting. I ended up with ’06 Cabernet by Martini. I hadn’t had a Louis Martini cab in years. It had a lot of cherry tones to it. Drinkable.

When my scampi came Gabe hooked me up with the ’06 King’s Estate Pinot Gris. It was perfect with the scampi. Not too sweet. Bright and crisp. http://www.kingestate.com/

At the end of the bar there were some gentlemen visiting. One was an elevator salesman. (A very handsome one I might add.) They had something red in these great glasses. Loved the shape. Can’t find it to show you. So anyway. That inspired me to have what they were having…. 06’ Martorana Contrada Ragabo Nero D Avola. It’s a Sicilian varietal. The color was amazing. It’s one of the “Small Vineyards” wines. They market wines from smaller vineyards that would not normally make it in the same markets as the big guys. It is a kind of sour cherry scented wine. Mild, earthy, a little spicy, different. I liked it.

For the dessert wine I had the ’99 Vin Santo Felsina. Ohhh..yummy…A beautiful Copper/gold color with blended scents of peach, apricot, pineapple and an overall tropical feel. It was very, very good.

Now very happy and full I decided to wander over (across the street) to Diablo’s to check out the craziness of the Fat Tuesday Party and see what kind of trouble my friend was getting into….. Craziness was the word! Everyone (but me) in costumes doing what you do to get Mardi Gras beads…… Ha! I got some while still keeping my breasts out of public view. That takes talent! (and long running kindness to the people who matter .) As far as my friend getting in trouble… Well, too late on that one. She had LOTS of beads and she got them the old fashioned way.

I did finally get to see the basement. It is a very cool dance floor with flaming walls.
I think Troy (owner)had the best costume…. But it looked a little too natural on him. White Joe was dressed as a ….clown? That works!
The band was great and most of them were toppless (men) with lots of tattoos. The full experience.

C'est la vie