Birthday Dinner At The Left Bank

Honey and I went to The Left Bank Restaurant last Saturday to celebrate my **th birthday.  Because of the high quality of food that is served and from past experience, we knew we had to make a reservation well in advance because trying to make a last minute reservation here will most likely result in a very early or late dinner time.

Honey and I arrived as planned at 6 pm for our 7:00 reservation.  We found two empty bar stools at the end of the bar closest to the kitchen.  The staff at The Left Bank are very well trained and friendly.  The hostess assured us to take our time and our table will be waiting for us when we are finished with our cocktails.  The bar area crowd went in waves; it was packed, then the crowd thinned out, then was packed again in the span of one hour.

Finishing our drinks at the bar around 7:15 we decided we had better go to our table because there seemed to be a large walk in dinner crowd.  Honey and I had a pretty good idea what we were going to dine on because the last time I was at The Left Bank with my Dad, I had the best strip steak I have ever had at a restaurant.

Once we were seated at our table in the packed but not overcrowded dining room, our friendly and professional waitress came over to inform us of the nightly dinner specials, sure enough the strip steak was included as a Saturday night special.

I usually order our meals together at once because Honey and I have the same tastes so ordering for the both of us is usually very simple.  Honey started with the tomato, mozzarella, fried artichoke appetizer and I had a cream based pork soup.  We took turns sampling each others appetizers and needless to say, they were both excellent.  (I still say mine was better).

Next came our salads.  Honey chowed down on an excellent Caesar salad and I had a dark green leaf lettuce salad loaded with veggies.  I kept part of my salad to enjoy and finish with my supper.

Sipping on a celebratory birthday bottle of Bordeaux in between courses, the moment arrived when our server plunked down our gorgeous dinner plates in front of us.  The 14 oz. strip cooked to perfection (rare) was with a dark red demi glace (a little too much), crispy (maybe deep fried) cheesy potato balls with bacon inside and oiled green beans and carrots.

The dinner was fantastic.  Not as great as the time I was with my Dad, but fabulous nonetheless.  Because the portions are large at The Left Bank meant there was no room for dessert, even though I still perused the menu.

Honey and I try to make it to The Left Bank at least once a year for a special occasion because we never have left disappointed. The Left Bank is truly one of Buffalo’s longstanding excellent restaurants and one of Honey’s and mine all time favorites.  Thank you Left Bank for being the feather in our cap on a great birthday celebration.

And more important, thank you for being an excellent customer of ours!