Valentine's Days - Steak and Scalloped Potatoes - Happy Hour Hedley Club Lounge

Phil and I are finally in the same city for Valentine's Day this year so we decided to have a true celebration for once. On the weekend before Vday I tried a scalloped potato recipe that I've always wanted to try. If you don't know my menu building style by now, let me tell you; I choose one thing I want to make and I build the rest of the menu around it. Here's what I planned to go with my scalloped potatoes.

Roasted organic carrots.

Scalloped potatoes. I'm so sad I only took one picture of this. Slicing potatoes was tedious and laborious and by the end I only remembered to take this picture. I used this recipe. Once you get all the slicing done, the rest is easy. It does take a long time to cook though. About 1 hour.

Marinated some steak, cooked up some greenbeans, and along with the carrots and scalloped potatoes, we had a delicious Vday meal with plenty leftover for lunch the next day. The steak was a bit overcooked but still good.

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Vday celebration number 2 was happy hour at Hedley Club Lounge in Hotel De Anza. Little did we know that the happy hour menu was not offered and in its place was a higher priced Valentine's Day menu.

We kicked off the night with an ($10) Original Mai Tai which tasted too strong and a refreshing ($4) Hoegaarden beer.

($12) The calamari was the small bite I looked forward to most. During happy hour, this dish and this portion (maybe even larger) would have been offered for $5-$7 as I recall from 2 years ago. This particular portion was good but a bit too oily this time. I still love how they fry thin slices of lemon. Yum.

($15) Sausage, ricotta cheese, and another type of cheese pizza. Phil was hoping for a sausage combination pizza but didn't read the menu correctly. This pizza was a smidge on the plain side.

($15) Margherita Pizza. You can never go wrong with a classic margherita. I was very happy with my choice. Perfect thin crust, melty cheese, and tomatoey sauce.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

The homemade meal was laborious but lasted for a few meals afterward so it was worth the work. Everything was pretty cheap since I bought the meat in bulk and there are still many steaks left in the freezer. The scalloped potatoes only used up 2 potatoes, carrots were $1.99 for the bunch, green beans were $1.99/lb I think.

Dining out was a disappointment. The food was good but not spectacular and at its price point, definitely not worth it. We hoped that going to happy hour would save us money and we could get out before the Valentine's dinner rush came in. Sadly, not the case. There was no rush but we didn't save any money. We spent much more than intended because of the limited Valentine's menu and the marked up prices. Hedley Club Lounge has one of my favorite happy hour offerings and I'm sad I could not enjoy those offerings on Vday. Next year, we will just stay in and cook something nice.

Hedley Club Lounge on Yelp