Halibut dinner entree on Wed May 29, 2013 at Santa Cruz restaurant Oswald
Downtown Santa Cruz restaurant Oswald has graciously agreed to give away a gift certificate for free Wednesday dinner for two to one of my Examiner.com or SantaCruzFoodie.com readers. See end of article for how to enter, and keep reading for more on Oswald.
The wonderful Oswald, with delicious creations by Chef Damani Thomas, has been offering special three-course prix fixe dinners on Wednesday evenings for about three years now. The dinners cost $29; guests choose one appetizer, one entrée, and one dessert. For each of the three courses, you have three selections to pick from.
I dined at Oswald on Wed. May 29 and truly enjoyed the prix fixe dinner. My appetizer was a pea soup with crème fraiche and mint and it was simply delightful: smooth, savory, and seasoned well. Other choices included sautéed prawns with coconut oil, dates, hearts of palm and citrus. For an entrée, I selected Alaskan halibut with broccoli, salsify (a root vegetable, sort of like a parsnip), and lemon-kumquat sauce, and was immensely satisfied. The fish was moist and tender, and the vegetables and sauce, with the sauce having both sweetness and tartness, provided the right contrast. Plus the dish had a gorgeous appearance, which always makes me enjoy food more (see photo above).
My dining companion chose an entrée of roasted chicken with shelling beans, snap peas, and orange reduction. He was very happy that he selected this – it was actually by default since he often eats red meat but there wasn’t any on the prix fixe menu that night. His second choice would have been fish but I’d already chosen that and he wanted to order something different. It’s not common for a restaurant to do chicken so well that you talk about it for a couple days, but that’s what Oswald did. The meat was perfectly cooked moist with crispy skin, the sauce had a great citrus flavor, and the beans successfully complemented the chicken. For dessert, the vanilla crème brulee dessert hit the spot with its creamy filling and cooked-exactly-right crisp caramelized top. In a word? Yum.
The restaurant serves dinner Tuesday-Sunday beginning at 5:30pm, and lunch on Fridays only from 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. Visit Oswald at 121 Soquel Avenue (at Front), Santa Cruz; call (831) 423-7427 for reservations.
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THE CONTEST:
Fine print: employees of Examiner.com are not eligible for this promotion
The winner will receive a gift certificate good for Wednesday prix fixe dinner for 2 at Oswald Restaurant (total value of certificate is $58). If you are the winner, please be sure tip your server!
To enter, email your name to tfatemiwalker@yahoo.com by Friday, June 21 at 5 p.m. and include the phrase “Oswald contest.” The drawing will take place later that evening; the winner will be notified via email.
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