Roux

I am not usually a take-an-hour-and-go-out-to-lunch kinda girl at work.  I am the girl who brings a sandwich and yogurt and takes a quick 30 minute lunch break at my desk while I surf news sites/blogs/etc on the internet.  Fascinating, I know, but it allows me to head home 30 minutes earlier than I would otherwise, which is a big deal to me since I have a 40 minute commute each way.  Plus it's much cheaper!

About once a month I venture out with the rest of the office for birthday lunches which is always fun, and once every blue moon I have a lunch meeting like yesterday. Since I went to college close to where I work, I know nearly every restaurant around there (even if I don't ever eat out anymore).  However, I was introduced to a new restaurant today that I plan on going back again for sure!

It's called Roux in the Old Cloverdale neighborhood (close to where I went to college) of Montgomery.  It looked pretty swanky from the outside so I was skeptical, but the food was delicious!  I had been craving some chicken salad all week, so I decided to try theirs and it was delicious!  Not a lot of fluff (no fruit, not a lot of celery) and the pita chips they served with it were phenomenal.  I could have eaten 2 plates of them.  I ordered a chopped salad to go with it and apparently I did not read the menu too closely because I was expecting a wedge-style salad with balsamic dressing, but they brought out a pile of chopped veggie that looked like they'd been dumped straight out of a can of Veg-ALL.  You know what I'm talking about:

Blech.....or so I thought. What was actually on my plate consisted of green beans, corn, carrots and tomatoes, shaved parmesan, and basil aioli in a balsamic vinaigrette.  It was delicious. I am pretty sure that if veggies tasted like that all the time I would have torn them up as a child instead of avoiding them like the plague.

When we were done they brought out a dessert menu and one of the girls I was with got all excited about one of their dishes, a Banana Pudding Cheesecake.  Upon closer inspection of the dessert menu I saw that the recipe had been featured in Southern Living magazine, which means is sinfully good!  It did not disappoint! And it was served in a super cute mini-mason jar!

You know you want some! Maybe I will have to start getting out of the office for lunch more often!  May be not =)