Woodberry Kitchen: Amazing All the Way Around

Cooper and I celebrated our 7th anniversary this weekend, while we were at the beach also celebrating Jeff and Christine's wedding. Before we left for the beach, though, we took ourselves out to Woodberry Kitchen for an anniversary dinner.

It was my third visit and Cooper's second. While we both know it's an incredible restaurant, we're not in the habit of going there - if we have a kid-free night, we usually go to Dogwood or Petit Louis or Crush/demi. I'm not sure why, we just do.

I'm so glad we did, though - we had an amazing time, starting with interesting, refreshing and perfectly balanced cocktails (the Govt Mule and the Spring Lane) and ending with a gift of dessert and smooth, sweet Venezuelan rum, which we initially thought was port, from our waiter.

Our waiter, by the way, was knowledgeable and friendly and a pleasure to hang out with. His wine recommendations were informed ("Only Black Ankle wines if you're going local," "I like this Cotes du Rhone - I used to bike past the vineyard when I lived in France") and he gave us great background on the menu.

Speaking of the menu, here's what we ate:

- Smoked onion dip (so smoky!) with homemade potato chips
- Raw rockfish, sliced super thin and sprinkled with radishes, cucumber and salt (refreshing)
- The butcher's platter, filled with house made charcuterie, including head cheese (tasty but too gelatinous for me), melon butter (delicious), pickled red onions and cucumbers (crunchy annd tart), whipped lard (like salted butter, but we kind of got stuck on the word "lard" so we didn't eat much) and a variety of dried meats and porks
- Heirloom tomato salad (the first tomatoes of the year came in earlier that day and WOW did this taste like summer)
- Berkshire pork chop (the ribeye of pork...Cooper ordered this on our waiter's recommendation and was so glad he did)
- Marvesta shrimp with tomatoes and peas in a scampi-like sauce over toast (so flavorful)
- Coeur de la creme with cherries and blueberries (this was on the house, for our anniversary, and we ate every bit, even though we also ordered...)
- Firm, mild Pennsylvania cheese served with salted strawberries
- House-made ice cream made with multiple types of mint (delicious, even though it wasn't bright green, the way I like my mint chocolate chip)

We washed everything down with the aforementioned Cotes du Rhone. Rereading our menu, I realize that I can't really do it justice just by writing about it.

Here's the thing about WK - is it maybe too popular for it's own good? Probably. Too earnest? Definitely. Do the beards and the flannel shirts make it all a little too Brooklyn? Absolutely. But the fact is, they deserve all their accolades - the food really is that good and the service is that well-informed.

I might have been stuffed when I left, but I was ready, immediately, to walk back in and have dinner all over again.