Our Anniversary Experience

We’ve been a little lax about celebrating our wedding anniversary over the past few years. It started with our 30th rolling around just weeks before our son married—our first child to do so. The next year passed on repeat, this time his brother meeting his bride at the altar. Last year, we were more engaged in traveling to see our new grand baby than celebrating our anniversary. And then this year, well, we all know how that’s going. So instead of finally being able to celebrate with a trip, we ended up with reservations for a dining experience, instead.

The restaurant, Hestia, opened in the building across the street from our building last year, but reservations were almost impossible to procure. The chef is a James Beard award finalist. The reviews are amazing.

Like all restaurants recently, they have struggled to survive. But as things have reopened here, Hestia instituted a prix fixe menu, complete with chef interactions. The cost was much higher than we would normally spend on dinner, but definitely much cheaper than a trip! And so, full of a sense of adventure in celebrating 33 years married, we put on nice clothes and our face masks and walked across the street to dine.

Hestia is the name of the Greek goddess of the hearth. The restaurant is named for her because all the food is cooked in some fashion with the heat from a wood (pecan and oak, I think they said!) fire in a specially build hearth. Everything from appetizers to desserts. All twelve courses. Yes, twelve! Of course they were all small bite portions. And many things we wouldn’t normally order. But we determined we would at least try everything. At the end, we left full but not overstuffed.

Here is an overview of our dinner in both pictures and words.

A trio of appetizer bites, including a bite of soaked peach with a fruity mousse, an oyster topped with something I can’t remember, and a bit of avocado in a tiny sourdough bowl. This was my first time to try an oyster. And my last. Not a fan. Not a peach fan, either, but this one wasn’t bad. And of course I love both avocado and sourdough, so, yes, that was a winner!

Wagyu beef on a wild onion pizelle. Raw beef isn’t my favorite, but I have to admit I enjoyed this course more than I thought I would!

Crab and sun gold tomatoes in smoked butter. Um, really? Need I say a word? I don’t even really love crab, but when it is swimming in smoked butter, what is there not to like?

Two twig skewers, one pork belly and one mushroom. I did try the mushroom, but I just really can’t get past the chewy texture. And since pork belly is essentially bacon wound into a ball on a skewer? I could do that!

Scallops. Again, not normally a huge fan, but these were much better than I’ve had before.

Halibut with mustang grape butter sauce. Yes, please! This was soooo good! So good that I forgot to take a picture of it!

Nopales (Prickly pear with green tomatoes). I ate it, but it wasn’t my particular favorite.

Wood-fired bread with wildflower butter. Oh my. I could have made this my entire meal! Crispy and smoky on the outside, soft and light on the inside. This bread-loving girl was in heaven!

Long beans (Green beans). I do love green beans. And charred over the fire? Even better. I ate this course very slowly to prolong the goodness.

Wagyu sirloin. Five small, thin, perfectly medium rare pieces. It was beautiful–and smelled divine. Which is probably why I forgot to take a picture! The taste did not disappoint.

Bubble and Smoke. A visually stunning dessert that tasted great, too! After we popped the smoky bubble, we ate silky buttermilk panna cotta with blackberries. So yummy! But then again, dessert is my favorite course.

S’mores. Or at least a grown up play on s’mores. A flat graham cracker crust topped with dark chocolate mousse and toasted meringue. All of those surrounded by a pine ash sauce that gave you a hint of the campfire smoke that makes a s’more memorable. I took the teeniest bites of this in order to savor it! And I did laugh when my husband declared he might try to recreate the dish at home!

Truly, our anniversary dinner this year was a night to remember. We enjoyed trying unusual dishes, even if we did like some more than others. But beyond the awesome food, we mostly enjoyed sitting at a restaurant for two solid hours, just the two of us, and being reminded that we still very much enjoy being with together.

What is the most amazing meal you’ve had at a restaurant? What restaurant? Where? What did you eat? Was it a connected to a special occasion?

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D'Ann Mateer

Inspired by novelist Eugenia Price, D’Ann’s dream of writing historical fiction with an element of faith began in middle school, though her serious drive toward publication took a bit longer. D’Ann is the author of four historical novels and one novella, as well as a contemporary short stories in a compilation volume. D’Ann and her husband of 30 years can be found in Austin, TX when they aren’t touring historic sites or visiting their grown children.

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