Review: Sweet Water

Last night Sam and I went on a double date / business dinner with Marc and Jenn. Marc is Sam's brother, and they work together, and I write for Jenn's decorating business. So they took us to one of their favorite places here in Virginia: Sweet Water. It's been too long since Sam and I have been out together to a real restaurant without Bria-- it was almost like we were real human adults again!

Sweet Water is a tavern with American food-- which can be really hit or miss with me (usually miss) because when I think about American food, I think of places like Chili's and Applebee's. Sorry to say, those places make me gag. But Sweet Water was really rather delicious. The service could have been better. Our waiter seemed content to only make conversation with Marc, whom we're sure the waiter pegged as the meal ticket. And I frequently found myself without water. Even though he kept our diet cokes full the entire meal, I had to ask for a water refill the first time and then had to just make do with my diet coke. This may not seem like such a big deal, but I am a big water drinker, and it's the small details like staying hydrated during a meal that make the difference.

I had the Short Smoked Salmon Filet. I am pretty picky about fish, so I never order it, but both Marc and Jenn recommended this, and I am so glad I got it. It was so delightful and flavorful. It was marinated perfectly and had a fantastic crust from the grill. The salmon was cooked perfectly: the chef recommends the salmon to be cooked medium, but I tend to need more time to mentally prepared myself for raw fish, so I requested it to be medium well. I am so glad I did that, because it was perfect. It was flaky, tender, soft, and juicy: exactly how I would want it to be. It was served over mashed red potatoes, which I am not typically wild about, but these were quite tasty: a very good texture and quite flavorful.


For dessert we got the warm flourless chocolate waffle. Oh. Heaven. It was seriously divine. It was a dense, chocolate cake-like waffle served with a scoop of the creamiest vanilla ice cream with a fudge sauce and a little carmel sauce too. The cake was flavorful and moist and it didn't melt the ice cream too much. It was an excellent chocolate too-- both the waffle and the chocolate sauce (which was pretty thick and fudgy). I'm a dark chocolate fan, and this had a great dark undertone so I didn't feel like I was on a milk chocolate and sugar overload. The ice cream was so creamy I could have cried. The flavors married so perfectly, as did the textures. It was absolutely the best way to end the meal.

Writing this is making me drool thinking about my leftover salmon in the fridge upstairs-- and I just ate lunch. When Sam and I move out here I'm pretty sure it's going to become one of our family favorites.

Thanks to Jenn for taking pictures on her iphone! Can you see me and sam trying to lean away in the background of the pictures?