Ooh la la!
Tonight’s special dinner date took us to Le Coq Au Vin, a much-talked-about French restaurant that opened in Orlando in 1976.
I surprised Ryan with the location of tonight’s date!
Ryan’s birthday is on Tuesday and I wanted to take him on a fun date to a restaurant he’s raved about ever since he visited the place several months ago with colleagues from his work.
He’s been talking about taking me here for quite a while, so I decided to flip the table and take him there this evening! Sneaky, sneaky.
The restaurant is located in a rather unassuming area of Orlando, but all of the reviews online and the recommendations we received from friends were overwhelmingly positive.
Plus, Ryan had been raving about his meal from the place for months, so I was quite exited to try it out for myself.
One thing I immediately noticed was the quality of the service at Le Coq Au Vin. We were seated immediately and our waiter greeted us with a basket of fresh, crusty French bread within seconds.
Warm French bread from a real French restaurant?
Sign me up! I ate two pieces while we perused the menu and placed our drink orders.
Ryan made his mind up quickly, but I took a little longer. However once I heard the specials from our waiter, my mind was made up!
He mentioned a baby greens salad served with a fried egg and lobster and I was 100 percent on board!
Before our entrees were served, Ryan and I shared a cup of French onion soup with gruyere cheese.
I wasn’t sure if our main meals would stack up to this soup, but man-oh-man, they did!
My salad was wonderful and included a ton of lobster!
When I dug into my salad and saw just how much lobster was hidden in the greens, I actually got a little nervous about the price! Since it was a “special” I didn’t think to ask how much it cost.
Ryan and I then took wagers on how much we thought my salad would be. He guessed $30 on the basis that the lobster entree on the menu was $45. I crossed my fingers that it would be less, but I wasn’t so sure!
Though the lobster was clearly the highlight of the salad, the fried egg was an awesome addition as well. The breadcrumbs on the outside of the egg were buttery and very flavorful.
For Ryan’s entree, he selected the Cassoulet, described on the menu as a specialty from the Southwest of France: White beans slowly braised with lamb, duck, port and garlic sausage,topped with a crust of duck cracklings, herbs, and breadcrumbs.
This meal was like heaven for Ryan. Lots and lots of meat, served in a stew-like broth with loads of beans. It truly was fantastic! It tasted like super-special home cookin’.
His meal was pretty big, so I helped him out quite a bit and in the end his cassoulet looked like this:
We annihilated it!
Then it was time for the bill… and the revealing of the price of my salad.
I grabbed for the check and was absolutely shocked to see my salad was only $15! You can’t even buy a tiny lobster tail at our local grocery store for less than $9. What a steal!
We debated ordering dessert at Le Coq Au Vin, but decided against it in favor of a little fo yo.
Chilly Spoons caught our eye from the road as we were driving to dinner and we knew we’d be stopping by on our way back home.
Ryan and I decided to share a big cup of dulce de leche and cheesecake swirl frozen yogurt that we topped with lots of different goodies.
I had a great time celebrating with the birthday boy! Tonight’s date was a nice little reward for a day of cleaning, organizing and checking off items on our wedding to-do list!
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend! 😀
Leave a Reply