Cafe io is one of our favorite restaurants. We dine there frequently, so much that I haven't blogged much about them since our first time there 4-5 years ago.. It's where we usually pick for our birthday dinners with SP's family. It's casual, service is always great, food is yummy. We went there last week for dinner and didn't order our usuals! SP had a beer & iced tea, I had iced tea. Here's what we ate:
French Mushroom Soup (mushrooms, onions, house made croutons, parmesan cheese, mushroom broth). SP loves soup and it was a snowy/rainy cold day, so he enjoyed this. I liked the cheese on top.
Crispy Green Beans (tempura green beans, horseradish dipping sauce). These are so good. I couldn't stop shoving them in my mouth.
SP ordered the Grouper special. They had the branzino special, too, and he usually orders that, but this time, he chose grouper with asparagus and I forget what it was all perched atop.
I decided to try something besides a sandwich. Shrimp and Polenta (sauteed shrimp, crispy parmesan polenta, zucchini, crimini mushroom, spinach, white wine tomato sauce). Garlic was not specifically mentioned in the description. I asked and she said yes, in the marinara. Since I wasn't looking at the menu, I didn't remember it said white wine tomato sauce and I was thinking marinara like what is served with the polenta appetizer and that doesn't bother me. So I ordered this. It was delicious but it did indeed have garlic. I made the mistake, I took the risk. I saw garlic, I had to pick off garlic, I tasted garlic, and my stomach started feeling weird, so I took must of it home and ate it at home just in case I had my usual garlic intolerance reaction. The shrimp were excellent, perfectly cooked. I love the crispy polenta.
I didn't get as sick as I have in the past, probably because I picked off a lot of the garlic bits and avoided the spinach, but that night I had terrible heartburn, indigestion, garlic burps, tummy bloating, tummy rumbling. I felt terrible and I was cursing garlic all night. When we went to bed I was sure I was going to end up puking, that's how ill I felt.
But it was tasty.
We brought home dessert but I didn't take photos. A blueberry cheesecake & a chai cupcake. Yummy!
In spite of my stupid risk-taking meal, we still really like Cafe io in Mt. Lebanon.
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