Artie's in Fairfax, VA

This past Sunday, I woke up late because I had TOO MUCH WINE on Saturday night.  Kevin and I went to an engagement party for one of his friends and I didnt know many people there.  It was a great party with tons of great appetizers and every drink you could every imagine.  But, since I wasnt doing much talking, I did more drinking and eating than usual.  Oops.

After waking up, I immediately started pulling together Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti.  A good friend of mine has had a challenging few weeks after finding out her 27 year old sister has melanoma.  This casserole was delivered down to Northern VA Sunday afternoon and we are all hoping (and praying) for a quick recovery.

My parents decided to join me and bring along a sweet potato pie, so my friend and her family would have dessert to go along with the casserole.  We also were able to visit with my great Aunt who lives in Fairfax, VA - near a restaurant called ARTIE's.  I have been hearing great things about this place for awhile now, so we stopped in for lunch.

After we were seated with drinks (water for me), the waitress brought out a basket full of delectable treats.  HOT donut holes/sweet bread covered in sugar and cinnamon and dense carrot bread.  They were both incredible and I immediately liked this place.

Next up, we ordered the Blue Crab Fritters as an appetizer for us all to share.  The Blue Crab Fritters were served with grilled corn salsa and lobster ginger butter.  When we first saw the plate, we were skeptical what this was exactly.

Then, I split one in half and almost fell out of the booth.  The iPhone picture above is probably blurry since I was shaking with excitment about the massive amounts of lump crab!  I was a very happy MARYLANDER.

I decided to go with a soup/salad combo and started with the Lobster Bisque seen above.  It had the perfect amount of sherry to make the back of my throat burn, in a good way, as it went down.  It was pretty rich, so I wasnt able to finish the entire bowl.

I decided on the Warm Goat Cheese & Spiced Pecan Salad with field lettuce, sun dried cranberries, dates, tomatoes and balsamic vinaigrette.  Anyone else obsessed with the breaded/fried goat cheese rounds on top of salads?  I AM. 

So, I was particularly excited to see this come out.  I just wish I hadnt filled up on everything else because I couldnt enjoy this salad the way I should have.  Next time, I would skip the soup, so I had more room.  It was an awesome salad.

No room for dessert right away, but we did order some almond lace butter cookies to go and they were SO good when we ate them in the car on the way home.  Extra thin and crunchy with almonds. 

I highly recommend this restaurant!