Locals! Listen up! There is a new restaurant worth visiting. Grapes and Hops is located in the same building as Hometime Spirits (behind the Publix on Spout Springs). I had a Fennel and Olive Tartine for an appetizer, a huge! Fall Waldorf salad (apples, field greens, walnuts, dried plums, onions, and water chestnuts), and an amazing poached caramelized pear with pecan ice cream for dessert. Each item on the menu has recommended wines and beers to enhance the dining experience. Artwork, linen tablecloths, a baby grand piano, spacious bar, fresh flowers, and jazz and classical guitar music piped in all made for a delightful Saturday lunch.

Maria had the blue crab salad (wow!), a creamy chicken soup (can't remember the fancy name), the same Waldorf salad, and a torte (not as good as my desert!). She had a Bison Blonde beer, and I had three 2 oz. servings of the three recommended white wines. My three course lunch, with wine, was $25. Quite reasonable for the quality.

As we were the only patrons for the majority of our dining pleasure, we were able to speak with the manager and server quite a bit. Apparently, they will be having wine tastings on Wednesday nights and other special events regularly. Maybe we should recommend trivia to them? I hope Grapes and Hops will be wildly successful. It would be a great place, too, for a knitting group. :) The possiblities are endless.

After this lovely lunch (shouldn't I become a restaurant critic?) Maria and I headed to her house to work on our LMU research proposal. It's due in one week, and we were about half through. We worked for about a half an hour before hosting two other members of our larger group (different project). We worked on that project for 2 hours. After they left, we gobbled up our Waldorf leftovers (it was HUGE) and kept plugging away on our 12 page (or longer when Maria finishes typing) research PROPOSAL. Yuck! I got home about 8:30 pm. Long day, but very productive (and delicious).