JBug's Kitchen Antics: A Date!

The kind you go on - not the kind you eat. Yup, I actually left my kitchen last night to venture out into the cold, dark world to meet the big guy and one of our "girls" for dinner at Firebirds Grill. It was a lovely evening, though I have to admit the drive wasn't that wonderful. I am night blind so can't see for nothin' which combined with the fact there are limited street lights in this burg -something about reducing ambient light so you can see the stars or some such hooey, the 25 minute drive there and back was a bit of a challenge.

Dinner was wonderful. Firebird's Rocky Mountain Grill is a chain of 17 restaurants that began life in Charlotte, NC. Its relaxed atmosphere, fabulous food and great service make it one of our favorite places to go in Tucson. You see, we have this theory that if you can do better at home, you eat at home, and the way the big guy can grill a steak puts a lot of pressure on any restaurant to do it better. Firebirds wins the award in our books because they do a fabulous job of putting out consistently good quality, great tasting food.

The big guy and Jordyn started their dinners with Firebird's BLT salad, a plate of "chopped lettuce, tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon and roasted garlic ranch dressing." It looked delicious and some day, I'll have to give it a try. I seldom order an appetizer with an entree (usually one or the other), because I belong to the clean plate club. If I have both, I'd finish both and you'd need a crane to get me out of my chair and a front end loader to get me to the car. Not that both aren't imminent at the rate I'm going. 'nuff said.

Main courses - there's no question what the big guy's having when we eat at Firebirds - how 'bout a 14 oz. rib eye steak, cooked blue rare topped with blue cheese sauce, covered in port mushrooms and served with a medley of fresh veggies. Jordyn hit the cluck department and had Cilantro Grilled Chicken breast with a smoked tomato jack cheese sauce and parmesan mashed potatoes. I had the seafood special which was chile rubbed salmon topped with a crab, queso sauce over parmesan mashed spuds. There was a vinaigrette on the plate that was incredible too - I have to say they've got a saucier back in their kitchen who turns out some incredible, creamy, tasty utterly decadent sauces.

I'm including some pictures along with an apology as to quality. In the interest of remaining as inconspicuous as possible, I didn't bring the tripod with the camera and they all show varying degrees of "jiggle". Sorry 'bout that, but at least you get the idea.

Enough about dinner - it was wonderful seeing Jordyn again and catching up on her life since graduation. You see it's almost two years since we saw her last, during which she's traveled the world via Darley Flying Start which is an "International Management Training Programme specializing in thoroughbred breeding and racing founded in 2003 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai." Jordyn graduated from the program in July and is now employed by Darley in Kentucky. She's wonderful - healthy, happy and loves her job but more important, she's a fabulous person (course she always was). We're so proud of her!