Seared foie gras accompanied by a black pepper biscuit, duck barbecue and Carolina peach jam

For the hubby’s birthday last month, we headed to Peninsula Grill, a swanky, well-known dining establishment in the Planter’s Inn.  It’s exactly the kind of place you think of when you think of a formal, special occasion type of place, which made it kind of funny that we happened upon there completely by accident.  The hubby and I had been wanting a night out, and what started as, “Let’s get a quick bite to eat while Grandpa and Grandma Gravy watch the Gravy Baby” turned into an exhaustive discussion filled with frantic Yelp searches and phone calls.  The hubby and I value our breaks so highly that we act like a genie just popped back out of the bottle and said, “Just ’cause I like you, I’m going to give you a fourth wish.”  What do you do when that happens?  Where do you even start?

Tenderloin in a gorgonzola blue cheese sauce with goat cheese mashed potatoes

Anyhoodle, it dawned on us while we were hemming and hawing over where to go that we should just — well, go for broke.  And by broke, I mean we sauntered into Peninsula Grill just five minutes after having called the restaurant and demanded a reservation.  We’ve discovered that such assertiveness is often rewarded, particularly when you offer to arrive at the restaurant promptly at 5:15 pm and wait patiently for a 5:30 pm seating.  Yes, I always want to say to the servers and maitre’d eyeballing us as we order almost as soon as we’re seated, having reviewed and re-reviewed the menu on my IPhone on the drive over, we are the lame couple with the toddler at home whom we’d like to tuck in by 7:30 tonight.  No, we don’t mind dining with octogenarians.  Judge away.

Dry aged sirloin with lobster tempura claw and grilled asparagus