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Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Tuesday, 8/24/10 - Grey Moss Inn

Date: 8/24/10
Restaurant: Grey Moss Inn
Location: 19010 Scenic Loop Rd, Helotes (just north of San Antonio down Bandera Rd)
Executive Chef: Not said on their website, which is a shame.

Our first real official Tuesday date since June, and it just so happened to be Restaurant Week in San Antonio, which meant most places had special menus and special prices. Suweet! The Grey Moss Inn is consistently voted one of the most romantic restaurants in San Antonio, and for good reason. It's a lovely scenic escape from the city, and the quality of the food absolutely lived up to the setting and reputation.

After a pleasant winding drive, we arrived!


Sign #1 that you're in the Hill Country: trees.


Sort of not the door I would pair with the rest of the building. One of two discrepancies in decor!


I want my meat to come out of this!


The inside view in the front room, very pretty with the sunroof. We were closeted away in the back; apparently we were not fit to be seen by the other guests. Hmph!


Dubious Decor #2: this is apparently their signature candle because it was on every single table. But.....why? It's huge and unappetizing. It was at the perfectly wrong height where I could not look at Tavis because the flame would be scorching my peripheral vision. Grey Moss Inn, you chose poorly...

On to bigger and better things! As mentioned, we snagged our seats during Restaurant Week, so we had access to their special menu which was really quite a deal. We got their snazzy salad with quail, choice of one of three entrees, and choice of one of two desserts. All that for $35 each, not bad! I also ordered a bottle of moscato to keep me happy. It did the job.


Our amuse, their trademark "olive twists." Like breadsticks with a muffaletta center. They were okay...didn't do much for either of us.


Lest you assume that a salad during Restaurant Week would be a throwaway, feast your eyes on this salad! I know I did, and then I feasted my tummy on it too. Perfect balance of crunch and creamy between the apples, candied walnuts and cheese on the salad. And the quail were stuffed with chorizo--I can hear my mom going "mmmmmmmmmm" now--and barbecued. Absolutely delicious!


I can say with some glee that for the first time in a LONG time, I beat Tavis on the entree. He has a knack for picking the most delicious thing, while I get caught up in trying to order "artsy, avant-garde" entrees against my better judgment. Well, I went for the meatfest and I won.

We have a bacon-wrapped filet front and center, which was just perfectly juicy and tender. We have a couple of renegade shrimp which were cooked perfectly. Hiding in the back is a twice-baked potato which I could have skipped, along with its cohort veggies lurking under everything else--though they too were cooked in chorizo, cue Mom's mmmmmm. And finally, the best of all was this amazing venison sausage to the right. Our waitress said their antelope sausage is even better. Try the charcuterie plate if you come here and report back to me.


Tavis's dish, pork chops with sauteed greens and stuffing. The chop was dry, sadly! And the sides weren't wow. Too bad.


It wouldn't be dessert without a disastrous attempt at photographing creme brulee! Trust me, with the flash it looks like a Japanese horror movie. Anyway, it was just the right amount of brittle to creamy deliciousness.


Tavis's cheesecake with raspberry sauce. By this point, I was 3/4 through the bottle of Moscato, so forgive me for not remembering how he liked it. I thought it looked like a perfectly nice cheesecake.


Tavis shows off the romantic, just-shy-of-kitschy decor in our corner of the restaurant.


Am I sad because my wall has no decorations? Am I sad because there's no more creme brulee? The answer may never be known.

Returnability: high! The Grey Moss Inn made a very good impression on us, with fantastic service by Leah and a menu with far more hits than misses at very reasonable prices. It was a lovely escape and a sweet return to the culinary world.

Just....get rid of the candlestrosity first.

2 comments:

Brian Moon said...

Am I sad because my wall has no decorations? Am I sad because there's no more creme brulee? The answer may never be known.

Maybe not, but I vote "no more creme brulee".

Nice writeup! Did, in fact, your meat come out of that thing which you said you wanted it to come out of?

Megan and Tavis said...

Brian - my steak certainly did! It lived up to its "giant ornamental-with-a-purpose" reputation.

(And you're probably right.)