Valentine's Day at the Gaslight Brasserie

Hello, All!

   My SO and I were trying to figure out what to do for Valentine's Day after a hectic and stressful week. We wanted to do something special, but not too crazy, so we decided to pop into the South End's Gaslight Brasserie for dinner. 

I'll share what we did and what we ate, but you have to make me a promise... Don't judge the photography too harshly this time, okay? In my excitement to see him after a long week and our haste to leave in time to make our reservation, I left my good camera at home and was stuck with my iPhone.

But anyway, as long as you're okay with that, here's just a taste of our experience at the Gaslight Brasserie.

When the taxi dropped us off, we walked through a brick corridor lit by gaslights, and immediately we realized that Gaslight would be even nicer than we'd expected. 

Swankier than the average students' haunt, to be sure. 

The bar we saw upon entering the restaurant was so evocative of 1920s Paris that I had to fangirl a little bit. 

We were seated in the lounge, which turned out to be even nicer and more romantic than the main dining room.

And of course, my wonderful, handsome date
and I shared a table for two.

Now, onto the phenomenal food we ate...

We started with escargots with toasted garlic and parsley butter.
These were so deliciously buttery!
They were also his first escargots, so they were a great introduction.

We followed the escargots with a raw oyster for each of us. 

For mains, he ordered Saumon Roti (Scottish salmon with swiss chard, golden raisins, cumin carrot puree & harissa aioli),

and I ordered Duck Confit with Carmargue red rice, cherries, roquefort, and Banyuls vinaigrette.

To round out the night, we decided to share an enormous Crème Brûlée between the two of us. He'd never tried one before, and it had been far too long since I'd had one. The overall verdict--incredibly good; the flambéed-sugar crust was just right, and the creme within was perfectly sweet and cool. 

All things considered, dinner couldn't have been more perfect. The prices were a little steep for a college-student budget, but the food was well worth the cost--everything was absolutely delicious!

Having filled our bellies with phenomenal food, we made our way through the unfamiliar South End towards my flat, and in the process, tried and failed to catch a shuttle, lost a shoe, laughed a lot, found ourselves at the spot where we first met, collapsed as soon as we got home, and rounded out the night by watching UP. 

I think it's nights like these that remind you what's really important. Although you'll both have some crazy, stressful, or exciting experiences on your own, at the end of the day, you're just two people who have chosen to share those experiences with each other, to make time to be together, and to plan and have new adventures together. Friday night was bigger than just treating ourselves to a nice meal--it allowed us to step away from the stresses of school and work and from the loose routines we had established and helped us remember the importance of recognizing and being grateful for what we have. 

I hope you all had a lovely night, whether you spent it with friends, family, a loved one, or treating yourself to a little TLC.

'Til next time,


Xx Caroline