Eating Out: Carrabba's

I know, this doesn't count. It's corporate. Jessica and I were supposed to go to a Thai place in Parker but the Groupon wouldn't print and it was far. So we kept it classy at this slightly overpriced Italian joint of Iliff and 225. I would like to start by emphasizing my commitment to reducing my carbon footprint, and as such I took the light rail from DU to Aurora. Plus, gas costs money.

Jess got a Cabernet Sauvignon that tasted like vinegar. The bottle may have been old? Who knows. I don't remember what it was. Anyway, we started with Pumpkin and Butternut Squash Ravioli in Brown Butter Sauce. That's one of my favorite dishes, and it definitely wasn't too bad here. A little pricey at $2 per ravioli, but it's seasonal so I figured what the chuck. It's nice, there's sweetness from the squash, richness from the butter and tang from the parmesan. A good balance of flavors.

Next we had some salad. It comes with every pasta dish. You know, it was salad. Mine was Mediterranean, which pretty much just meant it had tomatoes and olives. Carrabba's gives their customers bread, too, which was really nice of them. It comes with herbs that are mixed with olive oil at your table into which you dip it. I ate a lot of that.

For an entree, I had Spaghetti with Meatballs and Jess has Penne Franco. My spaghetti was a little dry and I had to order a little more sauce. The meatballs were tender, though, and had a pretty good flavor. I liked Jessica's Penne Franco quite a bit. It had sun-dried tomatoes, olives and artichoke hearts. These are a few of my favorite things. It also had something called 'ricotta salata.' I have no idea what that is, but I'm guessing something cheese-related. It was pretty tasty.

And that is pretty much it. It was a good Wednesday night meal, nothing to write home about. This does not count as writing home, okay? They had a lot of desserts I wanted to try, so if you go, you should try one. Try to get the waitress whose name rhymes with 'waitress.' She was fun.