Ashley's

WOW! I don't know what else to say about the dining experience we had tonight(10-3-09). We had a reservation for 6:00 p.m. but neither of us had lunch so we were starving after visiting the Arkansas Arts Center and Bedford's Camera and Video. We got to Ashley's about 5:30 p.m. and were seated immediately. First you have to decide what kind of water you want. We chose the still water and were brought a bottle of Mountain Spring water. This is not the water in a plastic bottle you get at at store. It is in a glass bottle and chilled. When we we received our menus, they had printed "Happy Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. McPheeters" at the top for us. I knew then we were in for a treat!

They began our meal with an gift from the chef. There's a name for it but I can't spell it. It's like amuse buche. It means a small one or two bite gift. Ours was their Falling Sky chicken with an onion jam and a small toasted baguette chip. It was wonderful!

We chose to do the 3 course pre fixe menu. You have a list of appetizers, entrees and desserts to choose from. I chose the seared foie gras with a ginger tuille small 'cookie'. I absolutely loved it! David had the mixed greens salad. It had pickled beets (made on site), goat cheese and pecans. The dressing was a light pomegranate vinaigrette.

At this point, we were brought a plate with sweet breads, short ribs and carrot puree. We didn't order that but apparently it was a mid-course from the chef. It was interesting. I loved it! David was ok with the short ribs. I will give him props for at least tasting the sweet bread even though he did not finish it.

Entree time...I had seared diver's scallops with potatoes and truffles. Oh my gosh! The scallops were lovely and huge. They were cooked perfectly. There were also homemade potato chips on top. They were light and crispy. The sauce was amazing. David had prime beef tenderloin with brocollini and Roman gnocchi.

While waiting for dessert, we received a pre-dessert. It was a miniature key lime pie. Amazing! Then we were served our desserts. I had the banana brulee. It was two small pieces of a thin banana cake, two pieces of a vanilla bean creme brulee and some homemade ice cream. Oh, and there were slices of bananas that were also brulee. Yummy!!!!! They wrote Happy Anniversary in chocolate on my plate.

We ended the evening on a very high note. While drinking coffee, Chef Lee Richardson came and spoke to us. The man is an amazing chef. The food not only was the best ever, the presentation was incredible. The entire experience was the best ever for me. I have eaten at lots of restaurants but this is by far the best.