Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Highlight #157: AWESOME fries - Restaurant: The Hil

I've been having really good luck lately with food. Maybe it's because someone up there knows that I've been working hard, so I am rewarded when I do find the time to venture out for eats. Two Saturdays ago, I camped out on the sofa for twelve hours straight surrounded by loads of paper. When I finished, the sweet husband was at the ready to take me away for a long drive. Where are we going? He didn't say and I didn't care.

Half hour late, we were looking at the warming lights of Serenbe through the misty night air. Many new homes had sprung up since our last visit a couple of years ago. We drove for a bit to take in the modern day Pleasantville-ish setup. Then we came to a stop in front the brownstone house at a street corner, J said "let's eat here." And I was happy that he picked.

The inside was as warm as we thought it'd be. A hostess, comfortably sitting in the foyer, looking like she was at home, greet us so warmly, I thought she might have been expecting us. Into the dinning room we went and spotted this chocolate cake starring down the diners in the middle of the room (you may have to click on the photo to see it). "It's to let you know what's to come," said our waitress. J immediately smiled and declared "we are going to have that"! It's hard not to love a man who always endorses everything I want or haven't even realized that I want.

Of course, before that, we must have some proper eats. J couldn't help but fall for the highly recommended roasted chicken. It came on a very reasonably sized plate, almost a dainty woman's touch. As advertised, it was juicy and salted just right. J made sure that I had my fill of mashed potatoes. I ordered the pizza, which had a satisfying crust and was of a size to make it a great value. But it's not the best I've had.

But the fries you see at the top of this page really may the best I've had in recent memory. It had a strongly crunchy outer layer almost like no other I've tried. One wouldn't have expected that looking at the fairly neutral color, but, boy, was it crunchy. Despite that though, the inside was not so cooked through to turn dry. It was still creamy, very creamy. The best combo. Really. I had to ask our waitress what the secret was and the only thing she would tell me is that it took three days to make and involved pre-frying and freezing. Interesting.

After stuffing ourselves with pizza, chicken, mashed potatoes, and fries, we moved on to, what else, but the cake that had been looking at us the whole time. With so much anticipation, it's almost too hard not to be let down. But WE WEREN'T! This cake was literally as heavy as a brick. So dense, yet it didn't taste sickly rich. Instead, it tasted like very very smooth chocolate. Not too dark, and without milk. It was beautiful. Just simply beautiful.

I couldn't have ended my long day in a better way. Despite my lack of sleep, we went home to watch a movie and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Of course, the next day, my long day routine resumed, but it was all put in perspective by this great outing.

The Hil, a restaurant at Serenbe
9110 Selborne Lane
Palmetto, Georgia 30268
770.463.6040

No comments: