21st birthday at the slanted door

the slanted door

champagne

For my birthday BF took me to Charles Phan's restaurant, The Slanted Door, in the Ferry Building. I'd always wanted to go there since I first moved to the Bay but never had anyone to go with until now. I love cheap Vietnamese street food as much as any other person who grew up eating it but our meal last night satisfied me just as much in a different way.

slanted door spring rolls

grilled ribeye steak

Obviously I'm still very new to this DSLR thing and I cared more about gorging myself with delicious food than getting the perfect photos of the food. So here are the two most semi decent ones I could find of the Slanted Door spring rolls and grilled ribeye steak with garlic soy sauce and fingerling potatoes. In addition to the spring rolls (which were spectacular, I must say) we started with their chilled wild louisiana gulf shrimp which I was too excited about to get a picture of. Have I ever told you guys about my obsession with shrimp? Probably. These were on a whole other level, however. BF doesn't even like shrimp and he enjoyed the dish! Also not pictured is the chicken claypot with caramel sauce. Out of the two entrees my favorite was the grilled ribeye steak. It reminded me so much of the grilled beef in the Vietnamese rice dishes that I grew up eating... except a million times better. I think that's what I liked best about last night's dinner: the forerunning of familiar smells and tastes coupled with an extraordinary attention to enhancing them without overpowering their original essence.

cutie

haggard looking

And well, here we are with our cocktails. It's my 21st birthday, remember? I can't remember what my drink was called (our waiter reccommended it to us) but BF got a whiskey smash. I definitely preferred that to ordering a bottle of wine and letting him be the one to invariably drink most of it since I'm so much of a lightweight.

finished

view of the bay

And finally, this is what we got to look at all night, other than each other of course. What a perfect way to end a perfect night. I'm glad BF has already realized that the way into my heart is through my stomach. This also marks eight whole months of us dating... has it really only been that long? Ahh well, cheers! As an added bonus, here's what I ended up wearing:

birthday outfit
vena cava dress, h&m wedges, bottega veneta clutch
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