This month, we celebrated my husband’s 31st birthday! He’s the complete opposite of me when it comes to his birthday. I fully expect an experience LOL. I love trips and everything over the top. Birthdays are a huge deal for me! He enjoys celebrating his birthday, but he never really stresses about it.
Due to COVID-19 and the fact that I’m seven months pregnant, he wanted to do something locally. He’s also not huge on flying for his birthday. He hates the hassle of airports and checking bags. He prefers to hop in the car and go somewhere. This year, we decided we’d do a staycation in Northern Virginia. He always picks the hotel. He’s great at finding good deals and getting us in a prime location. We stayed at the Westin Arlington Gateway. The hotel was beautiful and in the perfect location. We had a view of downtown Arlington, which was amazing.
I wanted to make sure I had a nice experience planned for my husband, but also matched his personality.
For his birthday dinner, I made reservations with Mastro. One thing we’ve started doing since we’ve been traveling less is indulging more in fine dining. I made a reservation a week before. I love the level of detail shown by fine dining restaurants. They asked about the special occasion and information. When we arrived, we were seated immediately. My husband was excited as he didn’t know where we were going. I just told him the time to be dressed and to hop in the Uber with me.
We enjoyed an evening of laughs, amazing service, and great food!
Appetizers: Lobster bisque and crab cakes.
Dinner: Lamb chops and salmon.
For the first meal, I picked the Tupelo Honey Cafe. I was in the area downtown and saw the restaurant. We went there for brunch the day after his birthday. It did not disappoint! The food was soooooo good! If you’re going for weekend brunch, definitely make reservations! It was packed (social distance was in place). We didn’t make reservations because my husband was torn on what he wanted to eat (side-eye).
We put our name on the list and explored the area. We stumbled upon a local spot, Burger District. We had drinks and chatted there until our table was ready. This space was really nice and so clean! The staff was also friendly. I definitely plan to go back with our kids and have a burger dinner date.
Drinks at Burger District.
Now, back to Tupelo Honey Cafe. I was so excited for the menu LOL. For my appetizer, I ordered fried green tomatoes. I really like fried green tomatoes. I don’t eat them often because it’s not something I’ve been interested in cooking on my own LOL. But when I go to a southern restaurant that has them on the menu, I have to try them.
I also ordered the side caesar salad with spicy caesar dressing. I love all things spicy and I’ve never heard of spicy caesar dressing, so I had to order it. It was delicious! I’m now on the hunt to find it in the store or make my own. I’ve seen a few recipes online. To drink, I ordered the rosemary peach lemonade. It was really refreshing and the rosemary wasn’t too strong.
For my entree, I ordered the sriracha and honey chicken! It was so good! I know I keep saying that, but it really was! For my sides, I ordered potatoes, which were delicious.
I LOVED this restaurant and can’t wait to go back!
My husband loves playing pool! We hung out at Spider Kelly’s. We played a few rounds and then relaxed in their beer garden!
Beer garden
Need birthday or date night recommendations? Contact me!