Three Birds

From the moment a co-worker recalled her first date with a promising new love interest at a fabulous restaurant in Lakewood called, Three Birds, I knew I must make a reservation and go at the soonest available special occasion.

Well, two years later I finally found a special occasion...dinner on a Friday evening with my mother who was being "kicked out" of the house while my dad hosted a poker party for some of his old timer friends. As appealing as I'm sure a giant sub sandwich from Convenient is to men chugging Miller lite and throwing chips on a table, I told my mom I was going to take her somewhere that would offer a much wider selection of protein.

First off, you MUST make a reservation at Three Birds in advance if you hope to sit at one of the cozy tables and sip wine on a weekend otherwise you'll find yourself walking right back through the beautiful garden, through the gate and over to India Garden for Tandoori chicken.

Second, you must clear your schedule so that you have plenty of time to enjoy every moment of happiness that you'll experience from the time you're seated at your table. From the soft bread, to the crisp salads to the amazing entrees, you'll won't want to shovel this cuisine in your mouth just to rush off to the local pub.

For starters, my mother and I shared the Field Greens salad and by share I mean I asked her to taste one bite which lead to me attacking the entire plate filled with assorted citrus, greens, toasted cashews, grilled pineapple and a mint grapefruit coriander vinaigrette! Honestly, I've never drooled from a salad but this was worthy of carrying a tissue just in case.

After the unbelievable salad experience, my mother and I could hardly wait for our entree of pan seared sea scallops, roasted curried cauliflower, coriander spiced carrot puree and chili hollandaise sauce to arrive. Our entrees arrived in a beautiful triangular presentation showing off a beautiful color explosion of bright orange carrot puree. I decided to savor every bite of the three sea scallops on my plate as I was absolutely starving and was afraid I would still be hungry afterwards; however, by the last bite I found that I was quite stuffed. The cauliflower was roasted wonderfully and mixed incredibly well with the carrot puree. Although it looks quite like baby food, there is nothing juvenile about this mix. I never thought I'd find myself scraping every last bit of mashed carrots off my plate at any restaurant, but hey I'm not above it! My mom by the way was equally impressed with the entire meal and asked if it was inappropriate to sop the remainder of carrot puree off her plate with bread when no one was looking.

Three Birds is a fantastic way to spend any night of the week, anytime of the year, but I am now very eager to go back once the weather warms up and sample some Roasted Duck Breast with Foie Gras in their beautifully landscaped garden. There's nothing I enjoy more than sitting outdoors at dusk on a breezy summer evening, slightly slouched back in my chair sipping wine with the FFF!

-Amy