A Fresh Season

I haven't eaten at many new restaurants lately. My wife and I have tried to be really good about saving money and cooking at home and it's been fun, but it's been tough not getting to try new restaurants. And when we have gone out to eat, the past few times have been to places we know and like, so there's not too much exploration there. So when I get a chance to try somewhere new, I really get excited and hopeful about it; and the most recent location delivered! I had heard many good things about Seasons 52 and I'd seen locations all over the country, but I finally had lunch there this past week.

For anyone who is unfamiliar with Seasons 52, it's a contemporary (slightly) upscale restaurant that focuses on using seasonal ingredients to create healthy meals. The menu changes seasonally and they also have different weekly specials, which explains why the name is Seasons 52. They try to create entrees that are nutritious and balanced and less than 475 calories while bringing out the best flavor of the fresh seasonal ingredients. I'd looked at the menu before and it always seemed like a good place to try, so I was definitely excited when someone offered to take me there for lunch. Of course, when you get an upscale restaurant that uses fresh ingredients, it can tend to get rather expensive; but the lunch menu appeared to be very reasonable. Most entree items seemed to be in the $8-$15 range and they offered plenty of variety and unique combinations.

Always the food adventurist, I decided to go out on a limb and try something new, a buffalo burger. The Oak-Fired Western Buffalo Burger was topped with guacamole, spicy chili sour cream, and roasted red pepper salsa on a whole wheat bun with a side salad. It was delicious! Since I'd never ordered buffalo, I went with the waiter's recommendation of having it cooked to medium, which was good because it is a very lean cut of meat. I really liked the flavor of the meat with the combination of guacamole, sour cream, and salsa and the whole wheat bun brought it all together (and provided some good nutrition). The salad was fresh and had some sunflower kernels tossed in, which I really enjoyed. It wasn't a huge burger, but the fiber from the bun and the salad helps to make it a more filling dish than it appears to be. Not to mention, the presentation on the plate was very contemporary and cool looking.

Now, if the meal had been finished with the buffalo and salad, I

wouldn't have been disappointed, but we weren't done! After the entrees, the waiter brought out a beautiful dessert platter with a variety of mini-indulgences (small desserts in big shot glasses) we could choose from. I was torn between the Rocky Road or the Pecan Pie with Vanilla Mousse, but I eventually decided to go with the chocolate. The chocolate was creamy, the cake in the bottom of the glass was moist, and as one of the people I was with said, "This is just enough." Mini-desserts are a great option for getting the taste of something sweet without feeling the gluttony of ordering a massive dessert at a crazy price.

So what's my review of Seasons 52? I give it 52 thumbs up! The location was great (we had a table overlooking the InterCoastal Waterway), the service was EXCELLENT, the food was tasty and healthy, and the lunch prices were reasonable. It is a step up from the Applebee's and Chili's of the world and it appears to be a restaurant with a very unique and cool approach in designing their menu. While it may not be a restaurant for everyone, it's certainly a place I'd enjoy going back to.