Short Ribs and Marshmallows at Alexandra's Turf Valley

Sous Chef and I attended the HoCoBlogs happy hour at Turf Valley last week; afterwards, we decided to have a bite to eat at Alexandra's, located on the lower level of the resort.  We were eager to take advantage of not only Howard County Restaurant Weeks, but also Alexandra's typical Wednesday special - half priced bottles of wine!

I liked how open the dining area was - large windows overlooking (what I'm assuming was) the golf course (by the time we were there it was pitch black outside), and high ceilings with modern light fixtures hanging down from above.

I found out from one of the happy hour event staff that Russell Svoboda, the Executive Chef at Alexandra's, used to be the chef at Great Sage - that's why he always has something vegetarian- or vegan-friendly on the menu, along with items that highlight the fact that they are gluten-free, etc.

But this time around, I was content to let the vegetables play a supporting role: I had something meatier in mind for my main course.

To our surprise, we ordered from the regular menu as opposed to the three-course Restaurant Weeks
offering - we'd both already had some snacks at the happy hour upstairs, and I wanted the freedom to pick whatever I wanted for dessert, instead of having to choose from the two Restaurant Weeks dessert selections.  You know how I love my freedom.

I ended up ordering the Santa Fe Shrimp and Grits with chorizo and black beans as my entree, and Sous Chef got the Asian Short Ribs with five-spice Hollandaise sauce.  My shrimp were cooked nicely, and I loved the spicy hit of chorizo that was smoothed out by the creaminess of the grits.  Sous Chef's short rib itself was tender and juicy - a nice hunk of meat - but we both thought the Hollandaise, albeit tasty, was sort of lost in the dish.  It would have worked better with a smaller portion of meat.

For dessert, we shared the...are you ready for this?...Molten Lava Cake with marshmallow ice cream and raspberry sauce.

Are you freaking kidding me?

There's just something about slowly melting ice cream spooned over a piping hot chocolatey cake that sets my loins on fire.  I'm sorry, did I say my loins?  I meant my tastebuds.  But my loins get pretty excited about it, too.

We're definitely going back at some point to try out other items on the menu; I'm particularly interested in the different steak preparations they feature.

Eat well!

#HoCoFood