Last night I planned a fun date night!
Early last week Ryan received a promotion at work and since I was awfully proud of him, I surprised him with dinner at Mark’s Prime Steakhouse, a local restaurant we’ve been dying to try ever since we moved to Ocala. We just needed a special occasion!
Since we’re sign people, I also had a silly congratulatory sign waiting for him when we arrived home on Friday night.
Have you guys seen BuzzFeed’s “50 People You Wish You Knew In Real Life” picture montage? I took the picture I included on Ryan’s sign from that article because we both thought it was way too funny when we saw it online months ago. Now we send a screen shot of the picture to each other whenever something happens that warrants an enthusiastic fist pump. That kid is awesome.
After a day out and about in Ocala, we headed to Mark’s for dinner.
Our meal began with wine (for me) and beer (for Ryan).
When I explained my wine preferences to our wonderful waiter, Kevin, he recommended that I try the Artesa Carneros pinot noir. I thought it was fabulous. It was slightly fruity but not too sweet and very smooth. I loved it!
We sipped our drinks as we dug into a fresh loaf of bread.
It was warm and took the edge off while we waited for our main meal.
Ryan and I also shared the steak tartare.
Ryan wanted to try this dish and I wasn’t completely sold at first, but once I put everything together on a little piece of toast, I changed my tune. It was delicious!
The main courses at Mark’s Prime are served a la carte and you choose your main dish and accompanying sides separately.
For my main dish, I selected a seafood dish that included shrimp, scallops, lobster and grouper.
I ate everything but the about half of the grouper, which I saved for lunch today.
Ryan and I selected the lobster macaroni and cheese and the grilled asparagus as our sides and couldn’t stop raving about the lobster mac.
I couldn’t get enough of the cheesy noodles and kept going back for more and more. I would’ve been happy with this dish as my entrée! It was fabulous.
We left Mark’s feeling full and happy! It was a wonderful date night!
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Your date nights look so fun! We need to get into a habit like that!! The signs are adorable!
artesa wine is AMAZING! that is one of the wineries we went to on our honeymoon to napa a couple of years ago. i think we may have finished all the bottles we brought back with us, but your post is a great reminder that we should probably stock up 🙂
Love your date night posts! I wanted to steal your Valentine’s Day date idea but we didn’t have time–we’ll have to fit it in one of these days! 🙂
They gave you a whole loaf of bread?! Yes, please. That sounds like my kind of place! Congrats to Ryan on his promotion! That fist pump story is super cute. Y’alls relationship makes me have faith in love. 😀
I’d probably eat all of that bread by myself and then ask for more… I hardly ever have bread in my house, or if I do, it’s very minimal because for some reason, I don’t get bread crazy unless I’m not at my house. it’s like I’ve never seen bread before when I go out to a restaurant… so bizarre.
I should probably not read your blog when I’m hungry. I now want homemade mac & cheese!
What a great surprise for your husband. I used to be really good at leaving notes around the house for hubby, I need to get back to doing this! That food looks fabulous.