Avenue 805 (or 2 brainless lesbians try to do dinner and a movie)

I don’t know why Avenue 805 is not slam packed on Monday nights. Their Cheap date night has got to be one of the best deals in town. We stumbled onto it last night, when we got a craving for a big garlicky bowl of Mussels, and headed over there. Avenue 805 has never disappointed in the Mussels department, and that, combined with the nice dark cozy bar that we can smoke at, has made it a regular stop for us.

It turns out they do the Cheap date night on Mondays and Tuesdays, for parties of two. For $35 you get a bottle of red, white or pink, a big salad (either Caesar or house), a big bowl of pasta (lots of mix’n’match sauces and add protein for $5) and the house dessert. When you start crunching numbers on all that, you’ll find it’s a heck of a deal.

We started with the now-de rigueur lemon drop martini. The bartender/server said she hadn’t made one in awhile, but it was good. The glasses weren’t filled up all the way- that was my only complaint. It looks weird to see a ¾ full Martini glass.

We opted for white wine and were given a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc that was better than I had hoped for. You never know what you’re going to get in these situations, and you pretty much have to throw yourself at the mercy of the house and hope for the best. It was a very nice wine, crisp and refreshing.

The mussels that we had originally come in for, came out first, and as usual were swimming in garlic and white wine goodness, with a big piece of garlic toast alongside.

Our Caesar came out next and was very tasty. We’re both crouton queens, and I liked that the croutons tasted homemade from crusty French bread. At this point in my recollections, I need to mention that the service we had was really exceptional. We never felt rushed, and our server was attentive without being obnoxious. She paced our food perfectly, and it really makes a huge difference in your dining experience when someone takes the time and effort to do that.

The pasta we ordered was penne with pesto sauce, add shrimp. Bacchus has a similar pasta set-up, that we tried out last month, and I have to say that as much as I like Bacchus, we both agreed that this was a superior bowl of pasta. The pesto was rich with parmesan, slightly creamy and with a fresh basil flavor. The pinenuts were a nice addition, and the shrimp were delicious and well cooked. And like Bacchus, it was a gigantic portion. It piqued my curiosity to try their other sauces as well.

At this point we were ridiculously groaningly full… K actually loosened her belt, and by the time we’d left she had unbuttoned her jeans as well. It was at that can’t….eat….another….bite stage in the meal, that our server cheerfully mentioned that dessert was the bread pudding with hard sauce. Before I could stop myself, I asked if we could have half of it now, and would she box the rest? The bread pudding here is so, so good. It’s the perfect mix of soft bread pudding, crispy crunchy sugar crusties and fresh whipped cream. I can’t believe we managed to eat another bite but we did.

This visit reminded me why we like Avenue 805 so much.

We asked for our check, since we were trying to make a movie at the Byrd. We had really managed to time everything just perfectly, we found great parking, everything was going as planned. The movie we wanted to see was Ironman. K had asked me earlier in the day if I had any interest in seeing it, since it was at the Byrd. I said, “Oh, that’s that movie starring Robert Downey Jr, right? And it’s like a superhero movie. That should be good. It sounds interesting.” She replied that she thought so too, and we were both looking forward to seeing it.

So we arrive at the theatre, and are surprised at how many people are out on a Monday- why the heck didn’t they go eat at Avenue 805 first? We take our seats and start to watch. After about 3 minutes, the movie looks very familiar to me. My mind whirls…. Where had I seen this? Who had I seen it with? I couldn’t have possibly seen it with K, or she wouldn’t have suggested we go…. But I couldn’t have seen it with any other girl, because I don’t even look at other girls… and it’s not my kids’ sort of thing… and I don’t go to movies by myself….. and it’s not on cable yet…. at that point in my musing, K turns to me with a sheepish look, and says, “Why does this movie look familiar to me?”

“Oh my god,” I say. “We went to see this together.” A flicker of recollection darts across her face and she stifles a giggle. I feel a huge case of the laughs coming on, and I am so full I can barely sit in my seat anyway… We’re both laughing our heads off as we waddle quickly out of the theatre, and laugh all the way home. I think we’re the only two people I know who don’t require actual alcohol to act like blackout drunks.

Avenue 805
805 N. Davis
Richmond, VA