The Farm and Fisherman is an adorable BYOB in Washington Square West. When you walk in, you really feel like it’s someone’s living room, except it’s full of little dining tables, and a sofa is nowhere to be found. It’s small and intimate and warm. One thing we noticed on the Sunday night that we visited was how young we felt. I’m not sure if maybe it was just that it was Sunday night, but I definitely felt like a young’n. They have a very small menu and I’m a fan of places that do not give me too many things to choose from. It makes my indecisive self feel better.
A roll and homemade butter. The bread was warm, the butter was beyond fresh. It was delicious. We were off to a great start.We ordered one of the beet steak appetizers to share. Instead of one, they actually brought out two individual dishes. They said they found a few big pieces and just split it into two portions. Whoa. These beets must have been humongous, as our individual portions were ginormous! These bloody beet steaks were served with yogurt, shallots, pan drippings, aged balsamic vinegar, and pea leaves. Wow, this thing was like an entree! And it was beyond rich and delicious. I am a big fan of beets anyway, so for anyone that is not, try this to become a convert!
E got the pastured chicken baked in hay. It was served with blue corn grits and mushrooms. She couldn’t stop going on about how awesome it was.
I had the rhode island fluke served with a stew of fall vegetables, curry, almonds, and currants. I was so surprised by how big the portion sizes were! These were two large pieces of fluke, perfectly grilled and placed atop a nice mix of rooty veggies.
For dessert we got the apple strudel with freshly whipped cream. This was perfect. It wasn’t overly sweet and the dough was crispy and flaky. Service was absolutely top notch. The clientele also rocked. There was a big group there celebrating a birthday, and when they saw we didn’t b any of our own b, they offered us some of their wine. How sweet is that? We both thoroughly enjoyed every minute of our experience here. We’ll definitely be back! Note to people out there – this would be a lovely date spot!

It had been quite awhile since I’d last visited Audrey Claire. I don’t know if maybe I just didn’t notice before, but damn, is the place loud! Noise aside, I’ve never had a bad meal here. Here is the seared haloumi with candied dates and sesame-fig compote. I love haloumi. It is a bit salty for my normal tastes, but it really works with the sweet from the dates and fig. So let me just say something about candied dates. I’ve never had them before, but I’m in love with them! So amazing! They also garnished the dish with fresh mint, but also included some crispy fried mint. The fried stuff didn’t taste anything like mint, but just had a delightful crunch!
Cornmeal crusted seared tuna with israeli couscous, haricot verts, and shredded beet salad.
2 lbs of prince edward island mussels. This never disappoints. It’s a huge bowl full of freshly steamed mussels in a slightly spicy sauce. They give you plenty of delicious bread for you to sop up the broth. You can ask for more bread, I surely did.
An ooey gooey chocolate cake for dessert, with fresh strawberries and freshly whipped cream. This was incredible. One would not have a soul if one did not like this. Service was just fine.

Our last team dinner was at Grand Lux Cafe. I’d never heard of this place before, but it’s a basically a different version of the Cheesecake Factory, with a different name. It actually quite looks similar, but with less emphasis on cheesecake. Since Philadelphia is always the last to get chain restaurants, it didn’t surprise me that this was a chain.
Here’s my Asian Chicken Salad with chicken, fried wontons, rice noodles, lettuce, cabbage, almonds, carrots, tomatoes, in their asian dressing. As with any cheesecake factory item, it was ginormous. But also, not bad.
This is the Salmon Three Ways. It is done in soy glaze with shiitakes, horseradish crusted with asparagus, and finally almond ginger with green beans and buerre blanc.
While the food was really just ginormous portions of mediocre food, I really enjoyed the desserts. They have many baked to order desserts that you have toorder with your main entrees, as they take a long time to prepare. Since I love me some cobbler, I got the Peach Cobbler. It is super hot and served with vanilla ice cream. Delicious!
Here are the adorable Roasted Pineapple Upside-Down cakes, also served with vanilla ice cream.
They do a really decent Beignet! They are served with different dipping sauces.
Also, on a random lunch, I had the biggest baked potato I’d ever experience in my life. It was the size of the entire container. I swear to  you, it was the size of my head!