Last year we won a gift certificate to 115 Midtowne in a raffle at SchnoOctoberFest. We had a month left to use it and figured, why not make it our anniversary dinner?

The first thing we liked was the $10 corkage fee… so we brought in our own bottle of champagne. We let the Moet chill on ice while we enjoyed two cocktails, a Ginger Snap for me and a Mojito for Eric. Our drinks went nicely with the complimentary chipotle sour dough bread and our crispy duck and savoy cabbage spring roll appetizer. We couldn’t decide which dipping sauce went the best, they were all very tasty.

Our waiter opened the champagne and we were on to the main course. I couldn’t resist the espresso and ancho chili rubbed NY strip with cabernet blue cheese butter (perfectly medium rare throughout) and Eric ordered the adobo pork porterhouse with a citrus smoked garlic glaze. Both dinners were excellent, including my accompaniments of asparagus frites and grilled tomatoes.

Somehow we managed to save enough room for dessert, so it was on to the chocolate torte that was so dense and delicious, like a creamy flourless cake.

This place is very cozy with a casually elegant atmosphere. It is also extremely hard to find… it’s located in a strip mall to the right of the Harris Teeter near 440 off Six Forks Road in north Raleigh. The service was prompt and polite and we will definitely head back here if we find ourselves in the area.