Tale of a Thursday Night Date Night…

We all lead busy lives. I know that I for one would be lost without several day planners, multiple phones and the brightly coloured sticky notes that adorn my desk, phone and even walls.  We’ve become some very scheduled people.  So I made the decision to schedule a date night (how romantic of me!) with my husband. We scrolled through a couple of potential places and we settled on jane’s on the common.

Before launching into the witty banter, and the amazing food that made up our meal, there are several reasons why a place like jane’s is so great – it’s comfortable, the food is impeccably done, and the staff are knowledgeable, especially when it comes to where the food comes from.  And the menu is small – that’s a surefire indication that they use local ingredients and change their menus seasonally. jane’s is the ideal, upscale diner. I have a feeling that if I lived in any one of the buildings located around the restaurant and had the opportunity to frequent jane’s, I’d be greeted by name and shown to my “regular” table.  It’s just that kind of place.

Once we were seated and had the opportunity to take a spin through the menus and wine list, we settled on some starters. I went with the baby spinach salad with candied walnuts, a lemon poppy seed dressing and Ran-Cher Acres (located in Alyesford) goat cheese. My husband had a bit more trouble picking, but finally decided on the pan-seared scallops, complete with a miso-orange glaze, daikon and cucumber – he scored some serious points since the scallops had been vying for my attention as well.

We each had a glass of wine, with my dining-partner-in-crime choosing Red Rock (Blomidon Estate Winery, 2009) and my choice being the Eagle Tree Muscat (Jost Vineyards, 2008).   While we sipped and waited for our starters we admired the wonderful contemporary design and also marveled at how we managed to have a Thursday night off together.

Then our server popped around with some fresh-baked biscuits to keep us company.  Oh the biscuits – they truly deserve their own blog! Without getting too mushy, I will say that this was another example of why jane’s is so great; they’ve managed to recreate a comfortable, contemporary space where the quality of the food in front of you is really simple and really, really good.

All of this food-love continued once our starters arrived.  My salad was wonderfully dressed, and the Ran-Cher Acres goat cheese had a wonderfully chalky texture that was such a treat with my Muscat.  The scallops were divine as well. I can say that since he did share – the sweet, plump Nova Scotia scallops being a great contrast to the daikon.

Our main courses kept the love train right on rolling. I’d set my sights on a fantastic sounding trout (sourced locally from the Truro region) that was crusted in sesame seeds, along with a citrus-soy glaze.  My husband went with the pine nut-crusted pork (sourced from Oulton’s in Windsor), with a tomato and fennel slaw, sitting on a bacon-cheddar mashed potato.

We were each interested in going for another glass of wine (a fantastic perk of being able to walk to jane’s) and our knowledgeable server let us know we were already right on track with our selections – we stuck with the Eagle Tree and the Red Rock.

We were not disappointed with our main courses.  The trout was wonderfully tender, with just the right amount of crisp from the sesame seeds. I could tell that the good times had traveled right across the table because my husband raved about the pork, and complimented the simplistic perfection of the bacon cheddar mashed potato.

I do think it’s worthwhile noting just how great the service was too – the food can’t get all the love.  Our server, Laura,  was exceptional, always arrived at just the right time, had on-the-spot answers to all of our questions and was relaxed. And that made our night a true pleasure.  This was really starting to feel like a date-night – on a Thursday!

Once our main courses were gone we did manage to polish off a couple of desserts.  We’ve learned that when we go out to eat, desserts are a free-for-all – just throw the plates in the middle with some forks and let us go at it. We weren’t at all disappointed with our selections, a coconut cream custard in a shortbread crust, as well as carrot cake (long live that carrot cake!).  It’s also worth noting that many of their desserts are available for take out at jane’s next door – I’ll let you guess where that’s located.

jane’s on the common was a great dinner, with great service, great company and just a couple of blocks from home on a Thursday night. I could get used to all this.  All in favour of regular date-nights at jane’s, raise your hands (or your wine glasses)!