The Wedding Anniversary Dinner

Richie and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary Monday, July 2nd.  We dated for two years so it's actually 37 years of a relationship.  When Richie made dinner reservations, he answered "102" to the receptionist's query as to how long married?  I shot him A Certain Look.  So he amended himself, "But it only feels like a hundred."

My sister (eight years younger, but married before me) and I were talking about anniversaries and she remarked that she and Jim quit on the cards to each other when they ran into each other at their local Hallmark.  Made perfect sense to both of us.  She went on to say that today they go out for a grand dinner and that's that.  We do, too.

Last night's dining emporium choice was made remembering the ocean view straight ahead and the many masts of the sailboats to the left in the King Harbor marina.  It's an elegant room with polished service and quite a pleasant place to be.  Not many people on the sand - three - and two of them had their dogs (on leashes.)  Clearly the dogs love the beach - they ran out to the length of their spinning reel leashes and back again.    And again.  And again.  Lovely to see dogs having such a great time.

Critiquing the evening …
Our fellow diners looked to be yacht owners, springing for a more social evening than alone on their ships.  One table intrigued me - a burly man of a certain age and bulk and his three lady companions, any one of whom could have been thought to be a daughter.  But I don't think many Daddies absent-mindedly caressed a daughters butt while being seated.

As we so often do, we ordered a shrimp cocktail  ($17) with our drinks - gin and tonic $9 and a split of Korbel Brut $9.  We gasped when the shrimp cocktail came out.  It looked like a huge fog that had somehow come into the restaurant and attached itself to something in the waiter's hands.   Of course, it was a double shallow bowl with dry ice in the lower bowl.  But for a dramatic presentation the likes of which we'd never seen - fuggedabout any "Flambé Tableside" dishes you've ever seen.  Fire shooting up to the ceiling is as nothing compared to this.   Go order a drink and the shrimp cocktail if you don't believe a reputable restaurant would use dry ice in a food presentation …

Onward into the serious food.  Richie had a 14 oz. NY strip steak ($39.50) which came with Yukon Gold garlic mashed potatoes and a side of creamed spinach ($9).  The creamed spinach arrived in what could have been a vat; it was a very generous serving.  Several fields of spinach died in any event.

I ordered the Sugar Cane Shrimp Satay ($13) which came with sesame ginger soba noodles (inedible - mushy, nasty-looking, flavorless) and a coconut dipping sauce and a chili sauce.  The skewers were thin slats of sugar cane and due to the fact that the sticks were burned on both ends and the shrimp were kind of dried out, un-skewering them was a challenge.  The shrimp were dusted with a sort of chili-lime powder.

My Coconut Crunch Shrimp ($12.50) were very good and came with a trio of sauces - soy (straight out of the bottle is my guess) and coconut cream (thin and dripped off of the spiky coconut and had very little coconut flavor.  Would suggest they add a little coconut extract next time they make it)  and a chili sweet sauce that I swear came from Trader Joe's because we have a bottle of it at home.  Exact same color, texture, taste.

All or most of the above was forgotten when the Lava Cake with strawberry-flecked vanilla ice cream appeared.  $12.50 for a very generous and good serving.  Richie ate the ice cream, we each had a few bites and asked for a box.  Today whoever can get to the refrigerator first gets to finish it off.

He's doing laundry out in the garage - here's my chance.  later.

The Charthouse, 231 Yacht Club Way, Redondo Beach 310-372 3464  Of note, AAA membership gets you a discount.  $10 in our case.