Devereaux's, murderous shoes and marriage.

Well, I finally get to check Devereaux's off my list.   The restaurant is housed in a century-old brick cigar factory just off Main Street. It's been at the top of Greenville's culinary food chain for years, but frankly, I love to cook too much and we live too far out to make it to the city for dinner often, so it has taken me a while to get there.

 I own exactly one pair of acceptable dress shoes and they look like I've hiked the Appalachian trail in them.  So Friday afternoon I was on a mission for shoes before my dinner date with the hubs. Really, I'm more of a Birkenstock girl for practical reasons. (I fully committed to wearing them until they are back in style again.) Don't get me wrong, I do lust and think one day I will have a glass display case full of $500 designer heals, but honestly they are just not built to carry this woman around.  My feet doth protest loudly and I'm likely to break something before I even get to the car.  So I settled for some sensible, 3" black heals.  And off we went.

First, I took Dan to Northampton Wines for a glass of vino before dinner.  He's not a huge wine fan, but I'm trying. Their bar was packed, so we sat outside and enjoyed the cool air with our glasses of Manifesto Savignon Blanc and Marco Felluga Mongris Pinot Grigio (2010).  Then we wandered around their selection of thousands of bottles of wine before venturing out for dinner. Greenville is beautiful at night.

Devereaux's is classy and warm inside.  There are tons of smiling staff to assist with your every whim (and answer my ridiculous questions).  And it's a total synchronized food event.  Waiters move around the room quickly and gracefully refilling, removing, replacing and taking orders.  I loved that the noise level was low, too. We could hear each other talk.

I started with a salad with belgian endive, candied walnuts, blue cheese and pear.  Dan had his very first experience with Foie Gras.  It was seared and served with a brioche, almonds, apple butter, ice wine and plum gelee. His eyes rolled back into his head... several times.  We also had our first experience with Golden Tile fish: served with crispy potatoes (think homemade tater tots), shrimp, spinach, baby carrot and lemon.  It's a meaty, buttery fish. I'm not a big fish fan, but he loved it.  I did however enjoy the Tile Fish ceviche that the chef sent out when he found out we had never had tile fish before.  It was amazing! (Thanks Chef!)  I ordered duck three ways: confit leg, curried sausage, beluga lentils, and cherry gastrique.  My dish was extremely good and beautifully plated.  This food took talent and I enjoyed the effort.  The problem with eating at a restaurant this good is that it becomes the measure for meals for weeks to come. (Sigh)

We passed on dessert because I had been wanting Dan to try the lemon goat cheese cheesecake at Nose Dive for months, but it wasn't on their menu anymore so we left. (Please bring that back guys!)

We're back to the shoes.  Murderous shoes.  They were so comfortable from house to car and car to wine shop, but then they started eating my toe.  Slowly and painfully.  I limped half way to the car and then ripped them off and went barefoot.  I replaced them with flip flops (always on hand for back up) once in the car.  No one noticed my weird shoe choice or my gross skinless toe as we perused Trader Joe's.  Not even my husband.

This is why we've been married for 14 years. I could be wearing a burlap sack and he'd look straight into my eyes and tell me I was beautiful. 

A friend's aunt just passed away.  In her obituary, there was a quote that her aunt used to say, "The pain of wearing beautiful shoes just helps you remember the event you wore them to." Amen sister.