{"id":1231,"date":"2016-12-21T03:52:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T03:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.venividiedi.net\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2016-12-21T04:03:18","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T04:03:18","slug":"sweet-basil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.venividiedi.net\/?p=1231","title":{"rendered":"Sweet Basil"},"content":{"rendered":"

My family is spending winter break in Vail, Colorado. The Texas heat has simply overstayed its welcome so we thought it would be nice to go somewhere where you don’t start sweating just by breathing. As luck would have it, as soon as we left Houston, there was a \u00a0cold front and it started cooling down\u2026 Oh well\u2026.There’s so much fun stuff to do in Vail, and gustatorily, this place is no slouch either. So we might as well go.<\/p>\n

Sweet Basil<\/a>\u00a0is the place that comes up every time you Google “best restaurant in Vail”. And I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME. So either they’re truly remarkable or they have the best PR people money can buy\u2026 Either way, the foodie that I am, I just had \u00a0to try it. They’re on OpenTable for a thousand points, goodie for me!<\/p>\n

I scheduled our dinner for three right after a day of snowmobiling. I opted for early dinner because I want to have enough light from the outside to capture the famous ambience of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
It boasts of a huge picture window that overlooks the park outside.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I’m glad they gave us a table next to this. I could look at those twinkling lights for the rest of the night. The park is next to \u00a0Gore creek which is semi-frozen at this time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
For appetizer we had Warm Blue Crab Dip — horseradish, salmon roe, rye cracker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Beans ordered Caramelized Onion & Fig Tortellini — it has\u00a0gorgonzola fondue, roasted fennel, pistachio crumble, rosemary. The pistachio crumble is amazing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
I had Mediterranean Stone Bass —
served with shallot butter, vadouvan spice, melted leeks, parsnips.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
I guess by now you already know what D ordered. Steak, of course ! He had Mishima Wagyu New York —
confit sunchoke, brussels, potato puree, brown butter hollandaise<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The waiter boasted that their specialty dessert has been on the menu for more than 20 years. Naturally, we had to try it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sticky Toffee Pudding— it has\u00a0
brown sugar rum ice cream, peanut brittle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
B had their homemade caramel swirl ice cream because he can’t have the rum in our dessert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Overall, I know that this restaurant is not from a very good PR machinery. It is popular for a good reason. It is clearly superior than their sister restaurant, Mountain Standard. We were there last night and I am still debating whether I should blog about them or not—it was that disappointing. Sweet Basil is one of the better restaurants I’ve been to. Menu is inventive and properly executed. Definitely a must-try if you are ever in the Vail area.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My family is spending winter break in Vail, Colorado. The Texas heat has simply overstayed its welcome so we thought it would be nice to go somewhere where you don’t start sweating just by breathing. As luck would have it, as soon as we left Houston, there was a \u00a0cold front and it started cooling … Continue reading Sweet Basil<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1224,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures","category-i-me-and-myself","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p71dzN-jR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1287,"url":"https:\/\/www.venividiedi.net\/?p=1287","url_meta":{"origin":1231,"position":0},"title":"Vail Valley Food Tours","author":"certifiedfoodie","date":"December 26, 2016","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Food is a big part of a culture. Just like I mentioned in the intro of this blog, one of the best ways to get to know a culture is to sample their dishes. 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