Dinner Out At Sacred Beast
We recently enjoyed our first dinner out as a couple in a long time. We’ve taken to trying to get to one nice restaurant a month for a date night as part of our 2023 resolutions. Our first stop was Sacred Beast, a restaurant I’ve been dying to try since before the pandemic. Why? They have deviled eggs and matzah ball soup on the menu, how could I resist? A trendy mom-pop style menu, but with elevated ingredients, is the best way to describe it. The overall vibe is hip with smiling people and really loud music. What really got me, and I know it’s a thing, is how the waiters all dress in nineties attire. Like straight up dad sweaters and all. I don’t get it, is this cool? It wasn’t cool when I was a kid, we just wore that shit because our grandmas got it for us from Lazarus. We really wanted to wear flannel shirts and Chuck Taylors with cargo pants. I’ve asked around, and evidently that 90s dad look is even the style they sell at the local clothing stores too. Perhaps this is how the Boomers felt when kids my age wore bell bottoms when we were in high school, where everyone played the hippie consumerist. Maybe it’s just a joke, I don’t know. The nineties were a simpler time, we just didn’t realize it then, and perhaps that’s a vibe.
For drinks, I was on DD duty for this run so my wife ordered a cocktail and wine. The drink menu looked great and she enjoyed her choices. I went with a flavored iced tea that was really flavorful, almost like a “mock-tail” or sorts. They do the whole glass bottle/room temperature water thing here which I’m not a huge fan of really. This is America we want ice in our drink, but oh well I got over it.
For starters I ordered the deviled eggs of course. I’ve been wanting to try this for so long. I talked my wife into getting the matzah ball soup so I could sample it too. The eggs were interesting, my wife isn’t a huge fan so I ate all six. That might’ve been a mistake seeing how I was ready to feast but oh well. They were tasty, a little salty, and the filling tasted of mustard, all traditional preparation. They were cleanly piped and looked nice but could’ve used some color. I’d like to see a restaurant just go all out on these things. Maybe some with blue cheese and bacon or smoked salmon, like the kind I make for family gatherings.
My wife’s matzah ball soup was really good. It was a vegetable broth based instead of chicken but it was still really tasty. I also ordered the wedge salad. It was nothing like you’d expect, I liked this version way more. Instead of a cube of iceberg lettuce and tons of blue cheese and bacon it was instead a spear of romaine topped with plenty of tasty veggies, nuts, goat cheese, and spicy sauce. I would love to make this at home.
For dinner I order the chicken schnitzel. A huge salty fried pounded flat chicken breast topped with greens and sweet sauce. I liked it. My wife ordered the gnocchi, which is her favorite wherever we go, and she raved about it. I sampled it too and it was really good. For dessert I got a macchiato. The server warned me it was a traditional one, but it was the exact one I’ve had a million times. I guess young people order these things from Starbucks and expect ice and tons of chocolate syrup and get upset when it doesn’t come out that way. I was too stuffed for anything else. Like I said I started this meal off eating a half dozen deviled eggs. My wife ordered the chocolate pudding and I tried it. Evidently if you put sea salt in these things they taste amazing. Who knew?
I’d go back again for their breakfast, which they’re really well known here. You can order it all day so maybe if we get a free weekend morning we’ll bring the boys down and let them sample something.
