Birthday Dinner

US AT MY BIRTHDAY DINNER

(Yes, this post is nearly two months late) For my birthday we decided to try a Hilo establishment: Seaside Restaurant. Neither of us had ever eaten there before and it's a pretty popular place to go for locals and tourists. They raise some of their own fish (which makes it a shame that I really am not a seafood fan. I tried to look up what fish they raise, but their website has not be cooperative these last few days.

It's just outside the main stretch of Hilo (like airport side) and when you pull up it's nothing impressive. It's basically a house it looks like. When you walk inside the decor definitely hasn't been updated in awhile. On the way to the dining area you walk right by the service door to the kitchen (which has no door, so you can see right into the kitchen) and I thought that was weird. They seated us on an enclosed porch which was nice. The porch overlooks the tanks that they grow their fish in and a pond. As the sun set these beautiful white birds just took off across the pond and it was really pretty. As it got darker, the white Christmas lights gave the dining room a nice ambiance.

We got the escargot for an appetizer and then both got prime rib (my all-time favorite meal). The prime rib was...well prime rib. Nothing too special, but a decently tasty entree. The escargot on the other hand was a WHOLE 'nother story. They were just YUMMY.

ESCARGOT

Buttery, garlicy, cheesy and served with toasty crostini. Served with those cute little escargot forks, when it arrived it was like a little mystery because it was served hidden under a blanket of warm, gooey, stretchy cheese (don't ask me what kind...I'm so not a foodie). But in these little depressions (obviously an escargot serving dish) were the yummy snails, just swimming in their buttery deliciousness. Grab a snail, get some cheese and pop it on a crostini and it's a little piece of heaven. We are absolutely going back for the escargot!

I suppose it's probably ironic that I'm posting about eating snails after just posting about gross slugs...I didn't even realize this until I was about to post this :)