With the New Year just hours away, I'm reminiscing about all of 2017's delicious dishes and elegant eats. Mark and I love food, which leads us to some great date night spots with exciting menus and unique dishes. I will admit, we definitely spoil ourselves at times with bottles of wine, tasting menus, and too much dessert, and 2017 was no different. Recapping our food adventures for the year almost feels like I am tasting the menu all over again, it's such a treat!

2017 was a really great year. In February Mark and I got married and had our honeymoon, I started working on my blog full time, and I was able to travel to some great cities. This year we also spent a lot of time with my family in the San Francisco Bay Area, going back to visit almost every other month. While visiting my family, one of my favorite afternoons of 2017 was when Mark and I traveled to up to wine country and picked up a picnic basket at the Golden Eye Winery and had the most incredible lunch on the vineyard hillside. The perfect combination of wine, salami and crackers, relaxation, and sunshine made that particular afternoon one of the best!

My top elegant eats for 2017 are spread out all over the world, some restaurants in Las Vegas and Downtown Los Angeles, while others were in Mexico City and Bora Bora. We covered a lot of ground this year with some restaurants making it onto the blog and others were kept as little date night secrets - till now! I can't wait to share my most elegant eats of 2017 with you and I am excited for what bites 2018 will bring!

Check out the Elegant Eats of 2015 and 2016 here!

Top Pick for 2017: French Laundry - Napa, California

My surprise birthday dinner at the French Laundry was the best meal of my life, I truly don't think anything could ever top it! For the full list of everything I ate at the French Laundry, check out my article here.

 

#2 - Honeymoon in Bora Bora

Check out all of my Bora Bora edible adventures, here!

 

#3: Pujol - Mexico City, Mexico

Check out our experience at Pujol, here. Our favorite dish was the mole, which was over 1,000 days old!

 

#4: Quintonil - Mexico City, Mexico

Every dish was edible art! I also was a little bold and tried a dish with Mexican caviar - check out what it tasted like here!

 

#5: 71 Above - Downtown Los Angeles, California

The ultimate LA Date night! Up on the 71st floor of the US Bank Tower, we enjoyed a tasting menu high above the clouds. We even saw a few helicopters!

 

#6: Bestia - Downtown Los Angeles, California

Although I wouldn't describe Bestia as elegant and composed, it is one of Downtown LA's hottest restaurants and they have the best food! I still dream about their burrata pizza with fermented chilies and green olives.

 

#7: Rose. Rabbit. Lie. - Las Vegas, Nevada

Caviar tacos anyone? This eclectic restaurant has out-of-the-box dishes, drinks, and an amazing dinner performance. By the end of the dinner, everyone was dancing with the performers right in front of our table!

 

#8: Aster - San Francisco, California

This Michelin Star restaurant had a fantastic tasting menu with course after course of creative California cuisine. Along with our wine pairing, this date night was absolutely perfect (and delicious!).

 

#9: Bouchon - Las Vegas, Nevada

Although this was not like the original Bouchon in Napa Valley, Thomas Keller's Las Vegas location was the ultimate brunch spot (especially after a long night at the casinos the night before)! Every dish we ordered had an extra flare of elegance, like the brioche french toast, bacon-chive waffles, and the truffle fries. We loved every bite of this elegant brunch and will absolutely go again! And again, and again, and again.

I hope everyone has an exciting New Year full of good food, even better friends, and lots of bubbly. I wish everyone some elegant eats in 2018!

Cheers!