Planning Date Night doesn’t have to be the pits. Most of us are somewhere in between friends still closing the club and the rest toting toddlers and Mikie and I are right there with ya! Sometimes we get those feels to fight becoming that boring, old couple before we really even get old. Don’t get me wrong, we still love those nights you barely remember with people you’ll never forget – you know those nights you actually don’t bail on plans and have the best time; connecting with friends that should have been in straight jackets years ago, beach-bar-hopping and winding down with late-night burgers, making boomerangs of the guys playing pickle-Frisbee, mouths wide open. Buuuut, I think there’s safety in numbers when I say one of the best parts of being in a relationship with your best friend is that a cozy night in is a cherished little diamond in the rough of life’s endless work-weeks and to-do lists and definitely something we look forward to in this house. I mean, in the foreseeable one day there’s mortgages and kids, surmounting bills and chaos (moreso than now) and there’s just something super special about being cognoscente of our time together, just us two… what it means to us, how fast it can dwindle and relishing in it. Basically while you’re #LivingForTheGram, we feel like we’re winning. [[insert cheese here]]
But, there’s for sure a certain pressure looming to say NO to Netflix, resist the temptation to order in and get it in gear that you just have to give in to every once in a while.
While you’re all running to Wynwood or Worth Ave and fighting construction on 95, parking, hipsters with Juul pods full of bad pot … we’ve learned to enjoy what being a local has to offer. We’ve dabbled across places in Boca we’ve never thought to go, sat on the dock in lighthouse point with some beers and pizza and laughed for hours, or explored unmanned lifeguard towers at some of Palm Beach’s private beaches. Neither of us missed out on our wild years, (in fact we’ve probably overdone them enough for a few more people to live off of) but I’m even more glad I don’t get to miss out on quiet nights, sitting in the jeep on a cold night off the intracoastal, exploring simplicity with the love of my life.
But I digress, because me stanning our relationship is not what this post is about. It’s about those little things we do every once in a while where being tired just isn’t an excuse because it’s so easy, it’s wonderful. We decided with the Holidays over and Q4 being rough, we would take a break from visiting family and friends and catching up on work from the shorter weeks and go out Saturday night. Mikie asked me to go to a late dinner and *spoiler alert* he rented out the dining room at the Oliv Pit, just before they closed and stayed open just a bit later for an exquisite dining experience!
We were greeted by their manager and chose a table in the back of the restaurant and the entire staff there came to welcome us for our meal. We sat with Shula who was genuinely excited to have us, spoke in a thick, Greek accent and explained each dish with great pride. The wine list was phenomenal and although I’m more for the hard stuff, we had a glass selected with every course, all from Greece, that really were quite great. We started with a dry white and appetizers:
Enjoying pita that the Maître D’ explained evolved from four different recipes until they settled with one that was just right, dipped in rich, imported Greek olive oil. The tzatziki was so fresh, flavorful and robust in garlic, cucumber and dill that I think we were actually smiling while we ate it and Shula kindly packed us a to-go portion to “enjoy during the week” (which Mikie and I made Sunday Brunch in bed…). My favorite app the Market Salad and Mikie loved the Crispy Cheese (basically fried feta and honey) and Pulpo. Pulpo is grilled octopus and it was super fresh and cooked to melt in your mouth by a grill master; that’s right, they have a grill master who waited behind to ensure should we order anything off the grill it was done to absolute perfection. It was explained that they use coals made with Oliv Pits which burn stronger, longer, add flavor and (my favorite part) are totally sustainable – so that’s pretty cool in my book. We do a lot of grilling at home, mainly with propane but at the new house there are charcoal grills at the clubhouse and we’re always looking for new and interesting ways to cook out, so I’m looking forward to checking these coals out the next time Mikie makes Mahi Tacos! Anyway, I really liked the blips of history that we got, explanations of dishes and prompt refills on the Vino but they managed to balance to perfection just leaving us alone! It was nice to just Mike’s company with no one hovering and yet we never needed to look around for anything; that’s harder to do than you think. Trust me, I got through college behind a bar.
Their menu had plenty to choose from but wasn’t overwhelming and I really dug it. Something for everyone, but I got the feeling no one sat there and held up a table ordering, toiling over what they wanted to eat. I told Mikie he should get something that he typically wouldn’t get at home, because I rarely make him pork (I’m fine with him eating what he pleases but I don’t eat thing like Pork, Veal, Lamb, etc.) and I don’t cook any of the proteins I don’t eat myself, so that pretty much narrowed him down to Lamb Chops and Branzino. Mikie’s a merman, so he’ll eat anything out of the sea and I absolutely won’t eat Lamb so he decided on the Branzino so we could share and I got the Braised Short Ribs because I knew he wanted some …
The food came out fast, hot and so awesome. They presented Mikie’s fish European-style, which means they de-boned and separated it into fillets tableside. His fish was light and delectably seasoned and my short ribs legit fell off the bone, I could have eaten them with a spoon. I have to say my favorite part was the lemon broccolini and garlic confit. I could have eaten that as a meal… I could eat that right now (mmm, garlic…….. ).
Super full and borderline suffering the itis we were ready to wrap it up and retreat home to cuddle with the dog and watch #BirdBox but then we were presented with dessert, dealer’s choice. I would not have necessarily chosen Portokalopia, but I knew it was something orange – because, My Big Fat Greek Wedding – and we didn’t expect to have more than a courtesy bite each … but then we looked down and it was gone.
All in all, this was a super easy-to-plan, but thoughtful date night and a really cool experience for us to share. I’m thankful that Mikie decided to make a night of it and we’ll definitely be visiting the Oliv Pit in Boca again!
