lobster bisque euphoria...Spagio's

Betty and i have been pretty good over the past 2 months about not eating out during the week. On the weekends we've been hitting up some new joints and trying to mix up where we dine. Last month we hit up the refectory bistro which was tremendous...and also went to Vino Vino...this weekend we decided we'd try Spagio's. i alway thought it was an Italian restaurant but they consider themselves to be "European and Pacific Rim". I've never been to the restaurant but have eaten at the cellar.

We were pleasantly surprised with our meal with the highlight being the lobster bisque. Oh man was this good. We also split some appetizers: the shrimp, lobster, and jumbo lump crabcake was delicious. Pricey however -- for $13 you get one cake. The delicate lobster sauce on top was the real treat as the texture of the crabcake was a little too chewy for me. Betty and I dipped our bread rolls into the leftover sauce until it was all gone. We also split the French Charcuterie Plate. My oldest sister hipped us to Charcuterie when we visited her in Portland last year. To be honest -- i think i just like to say Charcuterie more so than I enjoy the type of meal. Our plate came with 2 pâtés that were pretty tasty. A lot of this food is new for my palette but I compare it to liverwurst. The hams were tasty as were the cornichons -- that are just mini pickles. The cocktails were pretty good. I think the Refectory has the best bombay sapphire dirty martini with blue cheese stuffed olives though. We each also enjoyed some wine that was more up my alley. I also give props on the bread. It was crusty and warm but did not rip open the roof of your moth like some other places. All in all not a bad place. Not in a rush to go back but it is near Jeni's ice cream and Stauff's -- which was part of the strategy in deciding to try it out.


we started with the cake and charcuterie first...


Then i was just too curious about the lobster bisque...who has soup second? Cholesterolking does. That's right. This lobster bisque is heaven.