J Marks ~ great atmosphere, food, oh, and PEAR MARTINIS

Last month for Valentine's Day, my mom and dad gave Ben and me a gift card to a restaurant we'd been dying to try: J Marks.  Every time we'd pass it on US-1 by Sunrise, it would be packed!  Plus, it looked like it had a fun atmosphere, so we were pleasantly surprised when they gave us a $75 gift card.  Of course, we went the following weekend and everything lived up to our expectations.  The food was great, the drinks were delicious, the service was amazing (you'll see why later) and although they said we had a wait of 45 minutes, our thingy (not sure what those small plastic things that light up are called) lit up after 5 minutes.

Here's a play by play of our experience:

We started off with two Pear Martinis--suggested by our waiter.  They were AMAZING!  I wish I had the recipe...based on taste I'm thinking it was as simple as vodka and pear schnapps, but I could be wrong.  That could be the cheapified version of a pear martini.  Maybe they put those angosta bitters or whatever (recipes always call for those and I never ever can figure out what they are or where to get them.)

Then came the bread.  In the words of Usher, OH MY GOD.  So soft, so warm, so good!  I think you can often get the sense of what type of food you're going to get at a restaurant if their bread is to die for.   J Marks is no exception.

For an appetizer, we split Bruchetta.  Again, amazing.  Delicious, crunchy baguettes covered in balsamic vinegar (which I thought was a nice touch instead of the typical olive oil spread), diced tomatoes, basil and Parmesan cheese.

For our main course, we split Swordfish.  I've never had it and Ben was in the mood for seafood so we went for it.  That night, it was one of their specials I might add, so they may not have it when you go.  But, it tasted great, so I'm sure the rest of their seafood is impeccable.  For our sides, the swordfish came with asparagus and we ordered as side salad (top right corner).

While we were allowing our food to digest, I was telling Ben a story.  I don't remember what the story was about but it must have been really intense because mid-way through my story telling, my arm gestures got really big and I knocked over my Pear Martini!!!  I wasn't even done!!!!!  Embarrassing to say the least because (a) I wasn't done and (b) I was sobes.

Love,

Clumsy