Date Night with Vince

A few weekends ago Jeremy and I made use of our daycare's $30 parents' night out. We thought it might not happen - Sawyer was teething and he ran a low grade fever Friday afternoon... but he pulled through and at 5:15pm I called Jeremy while he was out running errands and said, come home! Let's go!

Jeremy had been working in Houston for a while on a project, so we were due a celebration. We made reservations at the new Vince Young Steakhouse downtown, in the old Real World Austin house for those who know. I didn't expect much but it was a wonderful evening!

In the waiting area they have lots of Vince memorabilia and a huge longhorn covered in copper pennies. There are a few different rooms with seating, sectioned off by chains hanging from the ceiling and sheer curtains.

We started off with a couple cocktails - for me, the Burnt Orange-tini and for Jeremy, the 4th and 5. Mine was as delicious as the name! The names of the cocktails were my favorite part of the menu - additional ones were First Down, inVINCEable, Rookie of the Year, Orange Blood and Rose Bowl.

For our first course I ordered a farm-to-table salad made with local ingredients (mixed greens, apples, pecans, goat cheese and balsamic dressing) and Jeremy got the butternut squash soup. Both were fabulous. After perusing the wine list, we noticed they have a Vince Young signature collection of wines, some of his "personal favorites" and "hand-signed" as a "take-home gift to the buyer from Vince Young himself." We just picked the cheapest bottle, which happened to be a Pinot Noir. Our waiter came back and told us they were out of that bottle, but for the same price we'd get a nicer bottle still signed by VY. Sold! Jeremy was practically giddy the entire meal. For our entrees I ordered the fillet, Jeremy ordered the New York strip with delicious mushrooms, and we split bacon mac-n-cheese and sweet potato mash. The sides were huge, but everything was delicious. And we even had leftovers for dinner the next night, which were still really yummy. The dessert menu was okay... probably could have passed, but we decided to go all out and split 2 desserts as well. I ordered the Forever Young chocolate cake (warm chocolate cake with ganache center, vanilla ice cream and honey crisp) and Jeremy got his usual creme brulee. Again, it was all delicious.

The best part of the evening was overhearing that a little boy was celebrating his 7th birthday there that night, decked out in Texas and Titans gear. I heard the maitre d' make a phone call and ask if someone was available for a birthday call. We later found out Vince was in Miami, but he called that little boy and wished him a happy birthday. Say what you will about VY, his steakhouse was wonderful and that was a class act. And Jeremy really wants to go back for his 31st birthday. Ha!