Birthday Dinner at Tautog's

My good friends Heather & Ally have birthdays only four days apart this week, so we celebrated together yesterday in Virginia Beach. The three of us laid by the pool for a couple of hours and read, then met up with our husbands for dinner at Tautog's.

Housed in the wood-shingled Winston Cottage just a block from the oceanfront boardwalk, Tautog's has a cozy atmosphere – a cute screen porch out front, lots of dark wood décor inside, and a friendly, laid back wait staff.

The regular menu includes standard "seafood at the beach" fare: crab cake sandwich, salmon salad, cornmeal-coated oven-fried catfish, tilapia au gratin with asparagus, and Mid-Atlantic pasta (penne tossed with shrimp, artichokes, zucchini, and portabella mushrooms in marinara sauce). Last night the specials looked amazing, so we decided to go with those.

They also have a pretty decent wine list, including quite a few from California (Seghesio, Frog's Leap, Hendry, Honig, Cakebread, and Chateau St. Jean). Topher chose a bottle of Nautilus for the table – a nice crisp, citrus-y New Zealand sauvignon blanc that went well with the fish.

The Appetizers:

• Spinach artichoke dip, served with corn chips – much better than the average dip! Made with cream cheese and large leaves of spinach
• A dozen steamed shrimp, served with butter & cocktail sauce
• She-crab soup – Ally's favorite that she generously let us taste – rich & creamy!

The Entrées:

• Topher: Pepper-seared mahi, served over pasta with homemade spicy red sauce, topped with chopped fresh herbs & lemon butter
• Ally, Heather, & Reid: Oven-baked salmon, served over Kahlua sweet potato hash and sautéed green beans, topped with saffron hollandaise
• Me & Seth: Oven-baked tilefish, served over buttermilk mashers and cauliflower infused with smoked apple wood bacon and parmesan, topped with Old Bay beurre blanc

The Dessert:

• Key lime pie

The Scoop:
Tautog's Restaurant at Winston's Cottage is located at 205 23rd Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451. Their hours are Sun-W 5:30pm-12am, R-Sat 5:30pm-2am. Reservations (recommended) are available by calling 757-422-0081.

Three notes about my entrée:

1. I had never had tilefish before, so the guys enjoyed using their Blackberrys and iPhones to educate me on the spot: tilefish is a mild, firm white fish similar to flounder or tilapia. While delicious, it's not recommended for pregnant or nursing moms, due to concerns about its mercury content.
2. I feel that cauliflower is an overlooked and often neglected vegetable, kind of like the forgotten stepsister of broccoli. I appreciate a chef that can bring out its subtle flavors. :)
3. As the photo below attests, my entire dinner plate was white!