I have just completed another trip around the Sun, so my wife and I decided to celebrate in our usual way by having dinner at an interesting new restaurant. This year we decided on the Out Of The Fire Café in Donegal, Pennsylvania. I will keep this review short and simple because we agreed that after dining there that it was the most exceptionally delicious meal from start to finish that we have ever eaten. We are comparing our meal to meals we have had at restaurants that were owned by Mario Batalli, Wolfgang Puck, Todd English, Emeril Lagasse and other celebrity chefs just to give you some point of reference on how good this meal was. I won’t bore you with my perception of the evening I will report it just as the BBC reports the news with just the facts. We began with the Seasonal Soup which was Crab Chowder that evening. The entrées were as follows per their menu description. My wife had Pan Seared Maine Monkfish with Carmelized Onions & Herb Polenta, Bristol Farms Cherry Tomatoes, Crooked Neck Summer Squash & Zucchini, Smoked Tomato Pesto and I had Orange & Fennel Crusted Chilean Sea Bass with Sweet Corn & Lump Crab Griddle Cakes, Grilled Scallions, Orange Section Salsa. This is how I would describe our dessert ” Strawberry Marscapone Parfitt, Marscapone Cheese Layered in Balsamic Vinegar Infused Strawberries with a Topping of Crumpled Thin Oatmeal Wafer. Out Of The Fire Café is a B.Y.O.B. establishment that has a $2 per person corkage fee. I have always avoided B.Y.O.B. places and I must tell you I was wrong in doing so. The atmosphere was festive and the bottle of Swedish Hill 2009 Reserve Chardonnay (Finger Lakes) we brought was excellent. I would recommend making reservations any time you plan on going because they are always crowded. Out Of The Fire Café 3784 State Rt 31 Donegal, Pa 15628. 724-593-4201 www.outofthefirecafe.com
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