Week of April 28th 2011: Hog and Rocks

Every now and then you get a chance to combine two things you enjoy - like eating great food and helping out a good cause. So when my friend, Shannon, decided to be a Dining Out for Life representative at Hog and Rocks, I thought it was a great opportunity to have a great dinner and give back a little and my friend, Oleg, agreed to be my date.


Long before our reservations were made, I scoured the menu for what I want to order and I'd already decided that I wanted the pork sandwich (sadly, it looks like this isn't on the menu anymore) and some oysters. Oleg was a little surprised that I already knew what I wanted. He told me that he hates to look at menus before going to a restaurant. I'm trying to remember what the reasoning was - I think it was something to do with not wanting to be disappointed if they didn't have the dish he wanted since a common practice at nicer places is to have a menu that changes daily.

For our plate of oysters, we got a wide variety - ranging from the cheaper to end to the nicer selection. I do have to say, as someone just getting into oysters, it's worth it to pay more. There was a clear correlation between price and taste (as well as an inverse relationship between size and taste...).

As we enjoyed our oysters, Shannon told us about the raffle tickets we could buy. With a grand prize of a week long trip to Mexico for the winner and ten friends, I figured I could get a couple of tickets and help out the cause.

While I didn't win, it was nice to get dinner with a good friend, have an amazing meal, and know that it was all going to help the fight against Aids. I'm hoping Shannon decides to do this again next year because she definitely knows how to pick a good restaurant.