111 Chophouse

Veronica and I hadn’t been out to dinner up here at home in a while— we’ve done some takeout, we cook a lot of “real” meals together— but we haven’t had a date night in some time— so it was that I parked the car in a foot of icy slush and made my way inside ONE ELEVEN CHOPHOUSE on a frigid Friday night in February. I’d dropped Veronica off at the door— the parking lot was full even at our 8:30pm reservation and I had to park down a dark side street about a block away.

I walked in where she was waiting at the bar and the maitre’d told me it would be a few minutes for our table— we’d stop and picked up some groceries at Trader Joes before (our original plan was to go shopping at Wegman’s AFTER dinner— which would have likely been 10:30 or so) and we timed it to get there for our reservation and somehow I still ended up 15 minutes early.

We had a cocktail at the bar (a Pear Blossom Mocktail made real with some Vodka which was Pear Purée, Lemon Juice, Fever-Tree Eldeflower Tonic and Vanilla bean— incredible) and at 8:40 I walked back over to the host station to see how my table was coming and it was ready and we were shuffled over to a booth not far from where we had started. The waitstaff was very attentive with our lead waitress being just friendly an folksy enough and the assistant waitress appearing exactly when needed with a quiet professionalism.

For appetizers I got a Crock Vidalia Onion Soup au Gratin, essentially a French Onion Soup, which was outstanding. We also got an order of Short Rib Crostini which was also excellent.

I got a traditional mixed green salad while Veronica ordered a Burrata Caprese Salad a dish which is a salad in name only— it’s a giant piece of very fresh mozzarella over three sliced tomatoes drizzled with an Olive Oil Balsamic reduction.

For Entrees we both went with Seafood dishes— I know who goes to a Steakhouse and gets Fish? Well 111 is part of the restaurant group which also includes The Soul Proprietor and Via Italian Grille— and they share quite a bit of each other’s menu’s. Baked Stuff Haddock is almost always my go to at restaurants— not usually at a Steakhouse but I’d just had an amazing Steak at Charley’s in Florida a week or so previously and baked stuff Haddock is one of those meals I cannot make at home— don’t have a ton of luck cooking fish, although we’re going to give it a try in the coming weeks. This was a beautiful peice of fish and the stuffing was 5 star. Veronica ordered the Fresh North Atlantic Salmon Fillet which I tried a bite of and it was very good, subtle without being too fishy and very smokey. I like Salmon but I hate beets and this one was served on a bed of them.

For dessert we split a Chocolate Mousse which as listed is a delicate chocolate tulip cup with white chocolate accents filled with a light, fluffy white chocolate mousse, served on raspberry purée. It was light and airy, delicious but I would have dropped more Raspberry Puree inside the white mousse to take it over the top.

The total before tip was $147.80 and I thought it was worth every penny.

We’ll definitely be back.