CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER AT BIZOU GARDEN

On Christmas Eve, we had planned on going to Korean BBQ. But at the last minute, my mom decided to make the reservation for the previous night (she was busy Christmas eve) which left us scrambling for a place to have dinner on Christmas Eve. Us being 9 cousins, sisters and boyfriends and my dad. My little sister suggested that we go to a restaurant called Bizou Garden featuring California/French/Italian inspired food and since they actually took our reservation for 10, we settled on that.

The thing with Bizou Garden is that it's not normally I'd pick to have dinner at. It's a nicely appointed restaurant and a comfortable place to go, but their prices don't justify the quality of the food. As you guys know, I'm willing to pay quite a lot, if it's worth it. Plus, it seems to be confused as to what type of cuisine it should be serving.

After perusing the menu, I settled on ordering an ahi tuna steak. What was surprising was that all the entrees came with a soup or salad. So few restaurants do that these days- they normally just make you pay extra. And I must say, I didn't enjoy the salad that was served and finished it quickly.

My tuna, on the other hand, was a sadder story. I'm not one of those people who enjoy eating tuna totally raw, so I had ordered mine medium. When it arrived you could tell it'd be seared on the exterior, but the interior was completely raw. So I sent it back.

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Of course, you know what happens. It came back completely cooked through. Like it could've been canned tuna at that point. Plus, the sauce it was served it was soooooooo salty. I ate some of it and enjoyed my super buttery potatoes.

Tom didn't have much better luck with his entree. It was kinda like a cioppino, except it wasn't served as a soup.

As you can see, they put all the seafood and all the sauce into one foil packet and cooked the entire thing together. The problem is that different seafood cooks at different rates, so some of the seafood came out totally overcooked (like the shrimp). Had they cooked things separately, it probably would've turned out better.

Lastly, there was dessert. They did have my favorite dessert on the menu- tarte tatin, so of course I had to order that. My little sister correctly predicted that I'd also mention that I make a fantastic tarte tatin- but it's true. I'm good at so few things in life, at least I can do that. So here's my tarte tatin below. It wasn't too bad. Kinda sweet, but I enjoyed it. Meanwhile, Tom ordered the tiramisu, which basically look like it had melted.

Again, it wasn't too bad, but I preferred eating my tarte tatin. And maybe had I tried some of the entrees that my family ordered- like pork chops and lamb (not that I eat those things) I might have enjoyed the food more. Overall, it's not so much the food that matters, but the chance to hang out with my family on a more regular basis that's important to me.