Date Night: Copeland's

The hubby came home a little earlier than usual tonight and said, "Honey, do you have plans for tonight?" After thinking a second, it dawned on me that .... NO! I didn't have any plans! No choir practice, no piano lessons, no handbells, no Boy Scouts, nothing!!! Woo Hoo! and so I told him..."No, I don't have plans. Why?"

He says, "Wanna go out?" How romantic huh? "Wanna go out?" .... to which I delightedly answered, "Why Shore!!!"

So, we leave the little ones in charge of the older ones and we head out for a dinner without all the leg tugging and "can I have a bite?"s. Not sure of our destination, we just hit the interstate and pointed the surburban to the west. Hubby mentioned that he was in the mood for some decent seafood. In light of a previous date night experience, he opted to avoid our favorite restaurant, instead choosing a restaurant that we'd never been to.

We ended up at Copeland's of New Orleans over on Essen Lane in Baton Rouge where we were greeted and seated within seconds! Shortly after we were seated (and I do mean very shortly), our waiter, Bryan, joined us to take our drink orders. There were no little containers of sugar, Sweet N Low, or Equal packets on the table....only a drink menu, a candle, and salt & pepper shakers. Nothing else. Honey ordered a draft beer while I ordered a southern sweet tea. If I had spied the previously mentioned packets of artificial sweeteners, I would have ordered an unsweetened tea and used the pink stuff.

Bryan then asked us if we wanted an appetizer to start off with. I chose the Bayou Broccoli since it just looked like an interesting name. I don't have a photo of this appetizer but trust me when I tell you it was delish!!!! The Bayou Broccoli is a ball of broccoli, bacon, and cheese, all rolled up and then deep fried and served with a dipping sauce. They serve 7 of these little hush puppy sized balls. At a cost of $7.49 for this appetizer, that comes to just over $1 per ball. However, they are well worth it! Yum Yum!!!

Hubby chose the Copeland's Famous Fried Seafood Platter ($22.99) which comes with Golden fried oysters (seasonal), shrimp, crawfish tails, crabcake and thin crispy catfish also served with French Fries, thin sliced Onion Rings, and garlic bread. I could not believe the size of this plate when it was set down in front of my husband!! The following photos were taken with hubby's cell phone. Once I purchase my new camera, I will certainly take better quality pictures.

It was my turn next to order my dinner. Knowing that I could not possibly eat as much as my hubby, I chose to experience the Crabcakes and Shrimp Alredo plate which features two fried crabcakes and a handful of shrimp on a bed of angel hair pasta topped with a light shrimp alfredo sauce with a homemade biscuit on the side. May I just say, OH My God!!! this is GOOOOOOOODDD!!! Much more than I could possibly eat. In fact, I picked out the shrimp and ate one of the crabcakes, giving the other one to hubby. The pasta was just the right texture with just the right amount of sauce.

After enjoying all that good southern food, I could not resist tasting one of Copeland's main attractions. A slice of their cheesecake. Hubby said he just didn't have room for dessert but I was determined to try this cheesecake. I ordered the Signature Cheesecake, Copeland's original cheesecake recipe with a buttery pecan crust. With several toppings to choose from, I chose the raspberry sauce. When Bryan served it, he informed me that they usually put whipped cream on top but the whipped cream machine had malfunctioned tonight. I guess that means that I'll have to do without it. After my first bite, I thought, "Who cares about whipped cream! This stuff reminds me of that scene with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in When Harry Met Sally." You know the scene, in the restaurant, where she fakes the .... well, you know! The bottom line is .... I have never in my life ever put anything on my tongue that tastes this good! I didn't even have to chew it. I just let it sit there and melt. Absolute heaven!
After dinner, hubby decided that he wasn't in the mood for our regular after dinner movie. Therefore, we ended up in the toy department at Target, playing with anything that would respond to a pressed button here or a pulled string there. The Toy Story toys are my favorite!!! I ended up pulling out a pen and paper to make a Christmas list for the girls. But ultimately, what fun we had in the toy department acting like little kids again without having the little kids along reminding us to behave like adults!

Then, we headed home. Hubby does still have to go to work tomorrow. I couldn't keep him out all night ya know.

So, there ya go, our date night. If you are ever in the Baton Rouge area, be sure to visit Copeland's for some fine Southern dining!