We had dinner at FINO tonight… we sat at the bar and chatted with our pal Mindy, and of course, Bill and James were behind the bar, Jason was expediting in the kitchen, and Brian was nearby managing it all. Rachel & Logan came by for drinks later in the evening… it was such a fun night!

A few photos…

Bill’s drink special was Wassail – hot spiced punch with FINO sherry and apple brandy-poached apple and pear. Hot and soothing on a cold night like this.

We had lots of little fried things… like fried anchovy-stuffed olives, croquettes de jamon (crispy potato and benton country ham fritters, red eye coffee aioli), and Yukon gold potato chips with caper aoili. The red-eye coffee aioli was amazing.

We had the sweet potato pastilla – Phyllo stuffed with scrambled farm egg and almonds ras el hanout and pomegranate molasses. It was filled with chunks of sweet potato and crunchy bites of almonds.

We also had prawns with cilantro-lemon charmoula (not pictured) and quail with chickpeas and quail egg. The best part is breaking the yolk of the quail egg and mixing it into the chickpeas. Yum.

I was so happy to see chocolate on the dessert menu… Warm bittersweet chocolate cake with vanilla crema and cocoa-espresso sauce. It wasn’t too sweet or rich… just perfect, with an oozy center and crunchy bits of cacao nibs and salt.

Another great night at FINO!