K's birthday celebration at Acre

Yesterday was K's birthday and we celebrated right! I surprised him with a new netbook. I wasn't sure if it would be something he would like but he had been complaining about having to lug around his full size laptop for a while so I took a chance and scored....he was soopa doopa excited about it. He said he had been thinking about going to get one after messing around with mine.

Each year on his birthday, I take Kennon to a restaurant neither of us have been to and this year Acre opened up just in time to be part of his celebration. I read that Acre was a 2 year work in progress and the doors finally opened a few weeks ago with a lot of hype. It is located in a remodeled house behind Theatre Memphis and the house is beautiful, I wish I could live in it. We got there about 30 minutes before our reszies so we could check out the bar area and have a cocktail.

After a glass of wine and not many people to watch, I was ready to get our table so we were taken to one of the dining rooms where there was plenty of people to watch!

This picture is from Memphis Magazine and doesn't reflect all we had to look at but it shows how pretty the place is and it was actually taken from the area where we sat. I loved the floor to ceiling windows all around the room and all of the light they let in. I did not like how long it took our waiter to get to us though. Having been a bartender and waitress in college, I realize it is impossible to get to every table as soon as they are sat but it is not impossible to acknowledge them and let them know you will be with them as soon as you get a second....This is a huge pet peeve of mine. HUGE! I will sit contently for 10 or 15 minutes as long as I know someone knows I am there and is trying to get to me. All was forgiven after about 10 minutes when our waiter finally came over, apologized, refilled my wine glass and was totally attentive to us the rest of the night.
We started with the duck pastrami and the peekytoe crab cake.

They were both really good, I liked the crab cake best and K liked the duck. The crab cake is made without flour so it is real light and very crabby. The duck was cooked perfectly, a little bit of fat on the edges added a lot of flavor and there was no gamey taste at all.

For dinner, I ordered the scallops. They were served over a potato puree with some veggies and some kind of red wine buttery brown sauce and they were really, really, really good! If you order these make sure to get the full order because it is only 4 scallops. I would have been PISSED if I would have ordered the half and been served 2 scallops.....I mean really???? Who eats only 2 scallops. 4 is a half order to me!

K got the ribeye and gosh damn it was so stinking good and I'm not even a ribeye kind of girl. I cut my piece with the butter knife, it was cooked perfect....tender, juicy, flavorful and damn good! Oh and it was served with Potato Gratin, which is always a winner with me! Please note K's hands in the background with his fork and knife ready to go. I think I drive him crazy with my blog pictures. We had the pecan pie for dessert and it was the best pecan pie I have ever eaten in my life..... and I have eaten a lot! I don't know how you can make a pecan pie light and fluffy but the pastry chef at Acre has it figured out.

In the background is an example of the improved people watching that was going on in the dining room. No matter how long I live or how many times I see it, I will never, ever understand a man and a ponytail!!! I will also forever be scarred by the large "lady" with him that insisted on sitting with her legs wide apart all night long while wearing a dress!

After dinner, we enjoyed one more cocktail on the patio.

We decided that Acre's patio has now taken over the best patio in Memphis title.Get yo butt to Acre soon for a wonderful dining experience :)
I borrowed the pictures of the patio, bar and dining room from Memphis Magazine's review of Acre.