A Feast Fit for A Queen!

What a night! Bill told me that he would like to take me out for dinner on my birthday, and we had heard about a new "Foundations" restaurant right in Old Town Manassas that was supposed to be really nice, so we decided to give it a try. Our friends were also interested in giving the restaurant a try to see if they might be able to use it for an upcoming wedding. We knew it was advertised as "up scale," so I called them to make reservations and find out a ballpark figure. While I was on the phone, he told me about a special 5 to 7-course meal they have at the Chef's Bar.

The meal is served while sitting at a bar, albeit a very fancy, shiny black one, with tall, nicely padded chairs, right next to the kitchen where the chef prepares the dishes. The chef has prepared a fixed menu, and pairs each course with a wine that would compliment the food being served. As he is cooking and serving the courses, he educates you about the food and tells you what ingredients he's adding and how he will cook it. Being interested in gourmet food, this was something that both Bill and I thought would be fun--and we weren't disappointed! The chef turned out to be Don, the general manager. He is very personable and made sure we had a good time during the evening. We actually had about 4 other employees at our beck and call who would whisk away the dirty and empty dishes, bring us water and utensils, or bring the new wine and glasses for each course. What service! It was like being Queen in a palace...or at least like what I envisioned it would be like. Our party was the only one in the restaurant, so it felt nice to have so many people working to make our meal a pleasant one.

The courses were freshly prepared in front of us. When we first arrived, we started the meal off with a sweet, bubbly wine. The chef prepared an appetizer of cornbread fried in balsamic vinegar and honey. On top of that was a spinach & mango salad with a dressing. It was really delicious! I'm already forgetting all the ingredients of what he cooked, so I may have to revise this post after talking to Bill. They say your memory is the first thing to go. argh!

I'll never forget the next course, though. I don't like fish....well, at least I don't like "fishy fish." Maybe some of you know what I mean. I have discovered I DO like crab, lobster, salmon....of course...the more expensive kinds! I don't particularly like scallops or mussells or oysters...those things are too rubbery for me, so when the chef said he was going to make scallops for an appetizer, I was a little fearful. Bill keeps kidding me saying that he hasn't found a type of fish that I don't like yet, but he only thinks that because when he cooks fish, he drowns it in a cream or cheese sauce, so it's the sauce I like, not the fish. Anyway, the next course was absolutely melt-in-your-mouth delicious! The chef said he may have to make that recipe available on the menu from now on. He had made it up that day for us. He wrapped salmon around scallops and seared then broiled them. When they were done, he put a tomato cream sauce underneath them, and wilted spinach next to them. As I said, the scallop seemed to melt in your mouth, so I think there must be a trick to cooking scallops so they don't taste fishy and rubbery.

The next course was a venison in a port reduction mushroom sauce, overtop palenta with a side of carrots. It was about this time I started feeling just a little full, and we hadn't even gotten to the main entree, which I had requested! The meal took about 3 hours, but even over that long a period of time, it was a lot of food and wine to consume. We persevered, though...it was a tough job, but someone had to do it. ;)


The main entree is one that Foundations has on their menu, although he did change it slightly. He used filet mignon medallions, over a lump crab cake, topped with asparagus and a bearnaise sauce. MMMmmmmm! Fabulous!

The chef wanted to do something a little different because he was tired of chocolate (yes, he did seem a bit *off* to me...someone who could get tired of chocolate..shock!), so instead he made up a dessert with baked brie, sugared and flavored strawberries and mango, with a port reduction sauce..reduced even thicker than before. This dessert was also delicious...although I would like to see what he does with chocolate some day, too.


The whole meal was just the best experience I have ever had at a restaurant. We laughed, learned, stuffed and enjoyed ourselves immensely. We also drank a LOT of wine, as evidenced in the pictures below. If you ever have the chance to go, take it!