For Valentine’s Day this year, we decided to celebrate early, avoid the crazy crowd, and head to Parkside.
I had been wanting to go to Parkside for a while, but with a strict budget and a toddler, we don’t get out to restaurants without kid menus very often. We splurged precisely because of that – who knows when we’ll get to do it again? – and had a fantastic meal.

I’m one of those people who researches the menu before I go to a place, so I already knew what I wanted to order. Our waiter Mo did a great job of telling us about the menu, confusing me on Prosecco, and overall being jovial and attentive. It probably didn’t hurt that I purposefully made the reservation for 6:30, before the crowds would be showing up.

Starting off we had two incredibly strong cocktails: the Dirty Tito (Tito’s Vodka, olive juice, dry vermouth) and the Wild Basil (Leblon Cachaca, Pernod, grapefruit, and basil). They were good, but because they were so strong we moved on to Old Speckled Hen beer (for him) and Prosecco (for me) when our cocktails were finished.

(Apologize in advance for not having photos of my husband’s food, and the poor picture quality. I need to learn how to take photos better in low-light situations!)