Celebrating 9 Years at Tout Va Bien

four desserts... for two!

Last night David and I celebrated our nine year anniversary with a late dinner at our old, midtown favorite: Tout Va Bien. 

We began by selecting a bottle of "Champagne TVB" ($55) which tasted of the extra dry variety with good doses of fruit and flavor. (and how nice it was to have a real champagne!) In the mood for salad, I ordered "endives in season," which came dressed in a mustard vinaigrette, while David opted for (his favorite) pâté maison. The bitter endives were close enough to what I was craving and David's pâté was a pretty pleasing choice. (very moist, not too firm and big in flavor) For our main course, David and I decided to share moules marinière! ($17)

A large glass dish arrived, piled high with mussels and covered in another glass dish which was to be used for our emptied shells. David also ordered a side of frites for the moules, which he considered would be incomplete without. The mussels were just as good as they always are at Tout Va Bien: soft, fresh and there were even one or two that were nearly huge! Nearing the bottom of the dish, David began dipping his fries into the marinière which was my cue to prepare a piece of bread for sopping (perhaps the best part of moules marinière)!

Finally finishing the mussels, David and I perused our menus for a fitting dessert. David recommended mousse au chocolat and crêpe TVB (a huge ice cream-filled crêpe)! Unfortunately, they were out of the crêpe TVB; we instead selected crème brûlée. 

we tasted a third dessert... just to be polite

Minutes after the arrival of desserts, they were accompanied by two more mousses au chocolat, a vase of roses and the house bucket of sangria! David and I slowly made our way around three, out of the four, desserts while commenting on The Oscars which was playing on the bar's TV behind me. When David finally asked for the bill, we had noticed they did not charge us for the champagne or desserts! We'd been going to Tout Va Bien for nine years now; we'll certainly be going back for the next nine years--and more!

Tout Va Bien, 311 West 51st Street, Manhattan