NYC 2 BIG D: Seasons 52

Seasons 52

http://www.seasons52.com/

Rating: A
Location: 7300 Lone Star Drive, Plano, TX 75024

Price: $$$

Category: Modern American (Healthy)

Favorites: Ambiance, Wine List, Flatbreads, Arugula Salad, Dessert

Comments:

My first reaction to the currently highly esteemed Seasons 52 was almost pure disdain because it’s owned by Darden Restaurants, who also carries the brand names of Olive Garden and Red Lobster, which are never on my list of restaurants that I would choose to dine at….ever! After much hesitation, but intrigued by all of the hype from D Magazine and Urbanspoon, I was willing to give this place a try….and I’m so glad that I did.

I tried making reservations at this place several times on the day of, but they usually only had a "Senior Citizen" time or "In Your Early Twenties and Single" slot available, so I had to make the reservations on a Monday for a Friday night to get a decent dinner time. That is always a good sign. As usual, I brought along my trustworthy taste bud companion, my husband….and it was also our date night.

Grapefruit Martini

Walking up to the entrance is an “Ahhh” moment experience in itself because your first sight is the roaring Fire Pit outside on their gorgeous patio. I was entranced and wishing it was a warmer day so we could enjoy their outdoor ambiance, but then I became sidetracked when we walked in the door. The hostess, or rather hostesses, greeted us immediately, but we were early for our reservation, so we were directed to the bar area….very nice….another place that I want to dine at…..if we have a next visit. The bar was crowded, but we were able to steal two seats, which were rightly placed behind the piano in the middle of the bar, and perfect timing because the pianist/singer just got back from her break and ready to entertain. I ordered the Grapefruit Martini, which was a little pricey, but delicious and well worth the money, especially because they give you the excess drink in a shaker….so that equals two drinks to me. The husband ordered his favorite cocktail…the Cape Cod (cranberry juice and vodka).

Almost immediately after receiving our drinks our buzzer went off to be seated in the dining area, which is a cozy and inviting area with dim lighting, the right noise level of clinks, clatter and conversation, a good number of booths, and finally, my favorite, a nice view of the kitchen staff orchestrating it’s symphony. The hostess, who lead us to our table, handed us menus, offered two black napkins in place of the white on the table, which is a wonderful gesture for those who are wearing anything below the waist that’s a dark color and don’t want white lent on their apparel, and then she did something else that I’ve never seen before. She carried a piece of paper with her that looked like a receipt, but clearly had our names on it because she handed it to the waiter, who greeted us by name….Wow!....I love that they are trying to make it more personal. He then walked us through the “Winter” menu because they change by seasons, and talked about how every dish is under 475 calories, and then the Chef Specials. I also noticed that everything on their menu is very affordable, especially for such a top quality restaurant. Next, we dove into the Wine List on the back, which was very impressive for a few reasons….they have selections that aren’t of the norm and 100 of them at that, and also they have quite a few choices by glass. We looked it over and were shocked that they had Torbreck Shiraz, which was a small vineyard we visited during our trip to Australia last year, so we undoubtedly ordered that bottle. What a treat!

Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread

Then, we opted to start of our meal with the Ripe Plum Tomato Flatbread with fresh basil, roasted garlic and melted Parmesan cheese, one of five choices of flatbread. If you don’t know by know, I love pizza or anything that comes close to it, and I especially love a pizza with super thin crust. Seasons 52 did not disappoint. Cracker thin crust + fresh ingredients = a damn good pizza….I mean flatbread! I also loved that it was in a long rectangular shape cut into triangles, therefore, everyone gets a slice of the crust (look at my photo). We boxed up a few pieces to save room for the rest of our meal.

Subsequently, because, as you may know, I love anything truffle, we ordered the Earthbound Farm’s Organic Arugula Salad with truffle dressing, Portobello mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. Now, DON’T SKIP THE SALAD, and I have a darn good reason for it because this was something extraordinary. I have only a select few restaurants in the DFW metroplex in which I never skip the salad, and now I’ve added another one to the top. The bitter arugula was an ideal pick of green to counterbalance the pungent flavor and creaminess of the truffle dressing, along with the Umami of the Portobello mushroom and parmesan cheese shavings. I could not think of a better salad and I know that it will haunt me for the rest of time in my dreams. I have to come back for another tasting!

For our entrée, we chose one of the Fish Selections on Special, the Grilled Swordfish with Shrimp Risotto and Roasted Vegetables. This is the one area that I wasn’t overly excited about during our meal. The fish was fresh and nicely grilled, but way under seasoned along with the roasted vegetables. I had to reach for the salt and pepper….and I hate that. The shrimp risotto was alright. It was cooked properly, but had a really grainy texture and the shrimp was not the freshest. I wasn’t disappointed by the dish, but wasn’t impressed either.

Earthbound Farm’s Organic Arugula Salad

Finally, the big finale, which was dessert, and what an experience! I am not usually one to order dessert because I like things simple when it comes to sweets, which could be a chocolate chip cookie or a bar of dark chocolate, but SAVE ROOM FOR DESSERT! Our waiter, who insisted we have dessert and by now we’ve had multiple friendly conversations with and are on a first name basis, brought out a show stopping presentation of shot glasses filled with 9 different “Mini Indulgences” as they call it. He explained all of them and we pointed out the two that we wanted, which are only $2.50 each by the way, the Mocha Macchiato (my choice) and the Pecan Pie with Vanilla Mousse (the husband’s choice). We thought our waiter was going to take the presentation away and bring us our individual dessert filled shot glasses in a few minutes, but he told us to take the one’s that we wanted…..Wait….What? They were presented so beautifully and perfect that both of us thought they were fake. Nope…how wrong we were. We felt like kids in a candy store, excited and giddy at the thought that we could have our pick of dessert right in front of us and eat it immediately. Who would have thought that something so simple could make you so happy! We ate happily tasting each other’s choice of indulgence and were so elated at the end of our meal that we were trying to plan a date to come back.