Dinner at Roy's

Last evening Mr Minx and I took Minx Dad and Minx Bro to dinner at Roy's. Since we go there so often, a couple of weeks ago they sent us a $20 gift card that needed to be used by the end of July. My Dad just started chemo and I thought it would be good for him to go out someplace nice to eat in case his treatments end up making him sick, so this seemed like perfect timing.

Mr Minx and I ordered Mai Tais and the other guys made do with water. We started off with a round of appetizers - Hong Kong wok fried calamari, wood grilled Szechwan spiced pork baby back ribs, and a bacon-wrapped fish dish with gnocchi that isn't on the menu available online (and of course I didn't make mental note of the type of fish). The calamari was more breading than fish, but it tasted fine and the squid wasn't chewy. The ribs were fantastic - nicely meaty, with a good grill flavor. Not hardly Szechwan though. And the elaborate fish preparation was much like an entree in itself and really delicious. It was like a bacon-wrapped filet mignon, only of firm-fleshed white fish.

Minx Dad loves Roy's short ribs, so that's what he ordered for his entree. They were meltingly tender and served with a little puddle of mashed potatoes and some interesting yellow cauliflower. Minx Bro went for the Korean Kalbi-flavored boneless rib eye which was amazingly succulent and only slightly spicy. It was served with sliced purple potatoes and a melange of baby vegetables plus a barely-grilled cippolini onion. I'm so lucky that my brother is generous - he kept on slicing off pieces of meat and onion and reaching across the table to add them to my plate! And I shared my duck leg confit/pork belly combo. Yes, I went to a restaurant known for seafood and ordered meat and meat! I can't help it - I find Roy's meat preparations to be so much more interesting and flavorful than those of fish. My husband more than made up for it though by ordering lump crab-stuffed rainbow trout in a spicy yuzu sesame sauce (the fish in bacon was his too!). The stuffing was all crab, and a generous portion of it at that. I think the only thing I didn't like too much was the steak fries that came with my entree. They were a little dry and flavorless and reminded me a little too much of the potatoes at Red Robin.

For dessert we had a macadamia nut tart that was gorgeous - very nutty, only slightly sweet; a coffee mousse bombe with honey graham ice cream - oh so rich!; and Meyer lemon semifreddo that was not very freddo at all, more like a chilled, very lemony egg custard. Delish all around.

I suppose because Dad didn't get appetizer or dessert (but we fed him from ours) and nobody wanted wine, we managed to escape for about $45 per person, $40 after the discount was subtracted. Roy's ain't cheap, but they do have a $35 3-course prix fixe that won't break the bank. Also check them out for Restaurant Week!