Avalon, West Chester PA

For those of you long time readers of the Barbecue Bachelor you already know how much I like dining at Avalon in West Chester, PA. Avalon is more than just an "eating" experience and much more of a complete dining experience. They offer a four course tasting menu that takes the diner on a fantastic tour of Italian inspired dishes all for under $40 during the week. Whereas in most restaurants I am in-and-out in an hour, there has been many a night at Avalon where my date and I have enjoyed the meal over the entire evening. This is by all means due to the excellent service. The next course is never served until the first course is finished and the dishes bused. Too often at other restaurants, I receive food when the restaurant has cooked it rather than when I am ready for it.

Knowing that I am big fan of Avalon, Mary Bigham of WCDish.com asked me to join her at Avalon last Friday night. She had been invited to the restaurant by the head chef John to experience the latest menu. Oh boy, as always, Avalon did not disappoint. We were a table of seven and everyone had a delicious experience. We all ordered the four course tasting menu which on Friday's also includes an extra cheese and beer tasting.

A couple of highlights for me were the chicken liver pasta and for a main course the lemon shrimp. Unfortunately my pictures don't do the dishes justice as they were taken with my phone. While we all brought a wide range of wines (its a BYOB) I saved the Herederos Del Marques De Riscal for the chicken liver pasta. This dish is fairly new to the menu but I have tasted a forkful before and was looking forward to trying it again.

At the end of the meal we all appreciated the fact that the chef came to our table to introduce himself and basically talk "food" with us. He even offered to help me pair wine for the next time I go....which will be soon.

Appetizer it with this Humus platter

I got heckled the other day for my lack of blogging. Therefore my new year's resolution is to blog more. Since I have already broken that resolution I'll shut up.

Do this appetizer and do it often. Its a winner. If you are putting a meal together for your honey this is a great way to start off the night. Go get yourself some olives from the Shop Rite olive bar, some carrots, radishes, almonds and a can of chick peas.
Start by making the humus. Homemade humus is always better than the store bought. For some tips click here. Next, to tendorize the carrots, boil or steam them for a couple of minutes. Serve them with a sprinkling of oregano. Prepare the almonds by spraying them with a little oil, salting them with coarse sea salt and toasting them. Arrange everything in a nice way on the plate and thats it. Great way to start a night. Choke down some nice white wine with this as well.