Justin has been raving about Montage for forEVER! He has always said how good it is; describing it's cozy atmosphere and unique creole and southern-like menu. To be honest, it wasn't a place I was DYING to try. I mean, Justin said it was great and I believed him, but I wasn't super eager to get down there. Two weeks ago, after a night out on the town with Kerri and her boyfriend, Nick, Justin REALLY wanted to go (he even offered to pay for everyone if we could please just go). But sadly it was 3 in the morning, and we had to get home! So on Saturday I had planned to take Justin out on a date to recreate our first date (which was two years ago!), but after seeing him so sad about not being able to go to Montage, I decided that Saturday would be his night and I would surprise him and take him there!
Montage opens at six, and since it's a very popular restaurant, we got there early and stood in line (in the rain). When we finally made it inside we were directed to a small two person table hidden in the corner. Perfect for a romantic date! Lucky us, we got the only two person table! All the other tables are long and people are seated next to strangers. I would have loved that, but I was glad we got our own "date table"!
Here is a view of one side of the restaurant with a very long table packed with diners.
We were seated right at about 6:00 and by 6:30 the entire restaurant was full! It's a busy place! But, let's talk about the food, ok? OHHH the FOOOOD!!!! The menu was FILLED with delicious looking entrees and appetizers, including alligator tail fritters and frog legs! Justin and I settled on the hushpuppies for an appetizer. Hushpuppies are a southern dish, and I've actually never been inclined to try them, but for some reason, we were drawn to them.
Here are our hushpuppies with the most delicious garlic aioli!!!
I've always thought hushpuppies would be greasy because they're fried, but these guys were not greasy at all, and they were filled with corn and jalapenos and they were just a perfect way to start our meal.
The menu was pretty amazing, so many things looked good! I feel like this is the kind of restaurant where you would come and order something new every time and always love your meal. Montage has a whole section on their menu dedicated to Mac and Cheese! YUMM!! And apparently it's pretty good! This night, however, I was itchin' for some seafood, so I got the linguini with scallops and creamy pesto sauce.
This picture doesn't do this bowl of goodness justice. It was a big bed of linguini smothered in a creamy pesto sauce, heavily dusted with fresh parmesan cheese, then studded with little scallops that were tender and not too strong tasting. This was truly a masterpiece and I loved every bite!!
Justin loves him some Jambalaya. Jambalaya is Louisiana rice dish with onions, tomatoes, celery and a spicy cajun sauce. Justin ordered some Crawfish Jambalaya.
Jambalaya isn't really my favorite dish, but I tried his, and it was actually REALLY good. It almost had a smokey-like flavor to it, and it had the perfect level of heat. The all around flavor was so nice and the crawfish added a really nice element to the dish. I was really impressed with this!
Half way through out dinners, we were getting stuffed! We had our waiter pack up our leftovers. This is a bad picture, but look at our leftovers!!!
All in all, Montage was perfect!! I am literally trying hard to think of an excuse to go back ASAP. They also serve lunch during the week with great looking sandwiches and po' boys as well as brunch on the weekend. Their lunch and brunch menus look just as good as their dinner menu and I am definitely planning a few trips back soon!! Montage is definitely a must try in Portland!!
No comments:
Post a Comment