Thursday, July 05, 2007
A journey in the garden
...the Garden's Gate, that is! Upon entering the quaint farm-house style restaurant, you are welcomed with a spectacular array of colours and scents. As you walk down the path to the restaurant, you are greeted by the most beautiful flowers in their garden.
You have a choice between the soup of the day and a salad to start with. I usually choose the salad, but this time, I opted for the Mulligatawny soup. It was a wonderful, warm, flavourful soup, with a hint of curry. Lovely! The freshly baked homemade dinner rolls are my favourite! The butter is flavoured with a hint of dill.
Hubby chose the salad. There are three homemade dressings to choose from. 
Deciding what to order is always a challenge, because everything on the menu is wonderful! I chose the Fettucini Alfredo with chicken. The presentation was beautiful, with the vegetables on the side. Originally, I thought that it was string beans that I was eating, but it didn't quite have the same texture. We discovered that those delicious greens were actually garlic scapes What an ingenius idea! They are very decorative and extremely tasty. The fettucini was divine, with the perfect amount of creaminess. The chicken was perfect with its special seasoning.
Hubby decided on the steak. He had the option of risotto cakes, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, or freshly cut fries (either regular or sweet potato). He chose the fries, and he had the side vegetables as well.
I've spoken to many people about the Garden's Gate, and a few times, people have said that they felt the portion sizes were too small. I totally disagree. I always leave feeling satisfied. I'm never hungry when I leave and I never feel ill from having eaten too much. Everything is just perfect! I find the portion sizes are generous and at the same time, not over-indulgent. 
We caved in and had dessert this time. The Garden's Gate is famous for their desserts! Since we were having our one year wedding anniversary supper, we decided to indulge a bit! Choosing a dessert is probably more difficult than choosing a main dish! They had white chocolate-macadamia cookies, pecan pie, Schmoo torte, black raspberry ripple cheesecake, keylime pie and more!
I had the keylime pie. It's my absolute favourite. If you try it, you'll know why!!!
Hubby chose the black raspberry ripple cheesecake, which was a surprise because he usually gets the Mad About Chocolate Cheesecake...or the pecan pie...or the Mandarin orange and mango cheesecake. Oh, he just loves all of the desserts there!
Mom met up with us for dessert and she had the rice pudding. She always has the rice pudding at the Garden's Gate! I was surprised when one of the owners and one of the servers delivered our desserts with candles and singing, "Happy anniversary! Happy anniversary! Happy anniversarrrrrrrrryyyy! Haaaaaaaaaappy anniversary!"
As always, it was a delightful dining experience. The atmosphere is warm and cozy and the food is delicious! It is a veritable feast for the taste buds! If you haven't been to the Garden's Gate yet...What are you waiting for? :)
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City girl moves to the country, falls in love, and marries a farmer. She tries to incorporate her city ways with her new country lifestyle and blogs to keep in touch with friends, family & students who live far, far away :) Can this city girl go country? Watch as she learns all sorts of exciting things about life on the farm and in a small rural community. *UPDATE* We are now parents! Our baby girl was born on Nov. 11, 2008 (at 28 weeks gestation- 12 weeks premature, but she's quite the trooper)!!!
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18 comments:
Again with the teasing with more reasons people should visit your island.
Yum!
We went there and loved it! The whitefish is delicious and so is the blueberry chicken! I love the keylime pie too!
I love going to this restaurant. Every time we visit "the island" we always make sure to dine at the Garden's Gate.
OH, yeah, sure! Show us the goodies while we're all the way in Tennessee. That's just mean, you know...
That black raspberry ripple cheesecake that your hubby chose, man! He's got good taste! It almos made me want to jump in the car and start driving north...
Mmmmmmmmm, dee-lish! Thhanks for inviting us to your special din-din and Happy Anniversary to two special people!
My husband would love the key lime pie! I miss STEAK!! That pic looks good I can smell it!
Wow, those dishes look fantastic. It was funny, as I was reading and looking at the pictures thinking that the portion sizes were just right, not too ginormous. What a lovely anniversary dinner!
You totally make me want to come and eat there! I cannot think of Mulligatawny soup without thinking of the soup nazi on Seinfeld. :)
Cherry:
Tee hee! All the more reason why you should come to the island! :)
t:
Yes, I remember you saying you liked the chicken. Was it blueberry chicken or strawberry? My dad ALWAYS orders the whitefish when he goes there! LOL!
Anon:
A lot of people who visit the island have told me that they sometimes come just for the experience of dining at the Garden's Gate and taking a scenic drive around and going to the beach!
Pavel:
You should come up...and bring the kids! Your three little ones would love the beaches here! The Garden's Gate has a kids' menu too :)
Ms.Mamma:
I was thinking of you the other night when we were at the Garden's Gate. They've got some amazing vegetarian dishes too! It's always so difficult to decide just what to order!
Mrs.Mogul:
Does Mr.Mogul like keylime pie? My uncle is from Florida and really loves eating keylime pie from Key West, Florida. He tried the keylime pie at the GG, and loves it!
Karen:
Yes! I agree! The portions at the GG are just right! I find it really disturbing when you go to certain restaurants and they heap the food on your plate. Like a portion of pasta at some restaurants are more like 3 or 4 portions. There's no reason a person ought to eat that much. Granted, some people split the portion in half and take the rest home in a doggy bag (why do they call it a doggy bag anyway??)...but more often, people just eat everything on their plate so they feel they have gotten their money's worth.
J:
Hahaha! I almost forgot about that episode! Too funny! :)
Hey Chrissy,
this restaurant was quite nice for the Island. The atmosphere was nice, the tables far enough apart that you didn't feel as though you were on top of your neighbors, service was friendly BUT the food was average, the portions definitely too small (for the $$ I expected much larger portions)
It could have been what I ordered but -of course I didn't have a chance to sample the desserts as the Boy was making a fuss and we felt it better to leave than subject the other diners to his screams(as you might remember).The desserts did look yummy though. Usually when i order a pasta dish i can take some home with me NOT eat every single morsel on my plate and still want more...hubby's fish looked good as did your food.
I would consider trying it again but perhaps order something else...another reason to come visit you again :)
Mmmmmm... Can I place a to-go order? ;-)
Food.....mmmmm....it's my Kryptonite!!!!LOL
Dina:
Hi! I've been meaning to call you before your mat leave ends! How are things over there? Every time I look at the pics of Elie and John, it reminds me of Elie doing all his talking and crawling all over the place! He's too cute!
Yes, I agree with a lot of what you say. There are a few other places I'd like to take you guys to sometime. One of them is by the water (very nice atmosphere too) and the other one is owned by some friends of ours and is also by the water.
Girlie Monkey:
LOL! Actually, I think you can order some food to go if you call in advance...but I think you'd have to pick it up. Otherwise, it would take a while to send it to you! LOL! That's why you and Kimmie should come here!
Uncivil:
LOL! You are too funny! :) You know, now every time I hear the words "fish fry", I think of you! What kind of fish do you guys use over there for your fish fry socials? LOL! I'm not sure, but I think the last one we went to, they used whitefish. If you are a fishing enthusiast, fishing on the island is pretty good. You can catch lake trout, brown trout, salmon, walleye, pickerel, perch, and a bunch I can't remember. I used to go fishing with my dad, brothers and cousins (who are all boys) when I was a kid. I never actually fished though. I always felt sorry for the fish and would "accidentally" tip over the bucket and set the fish free!
I thought Wisconsin was the official home of the fish fry and all things fried. Hmmm... Here you can find, pickles, cheese, snickers bars and bananas, all deep fried.
MsMamma:
WOW! Seriously? LOL! I've never ever heard of fried pickles!!! Funny...my SIL and I were talking about fried cheese the other day. One of my nieces said it sounded disgusting, but my SIL and I both said it was actually really good! I know it's not good for you, but it tastes delish!
Christine! Your gastronomic-looking pics. made me soo...hungry!!! My belly's all grumbly! Gah! Thanks for the teaser...
Sharon ;P