Hello, hello!
Fabulous dinner last night at one of my DC area favorites — Lyon Hall in Clarendon, VA.
Matt and I had only been to this place once before since it opened after we left the area. We were excited to come back! Here’s my “I’m excited” face. Matt was not impressed.
We were joined for dinner by friends Tom, Janice, and Shane.
It’s a good thing they seated us in a back corner of the restaurant because we were rather rowdy. 🙂
First things first: wine! I had the Pinot Noir — it was delicious. Very smooth.
For dinner, I decided on the Diver Scallops — served with brussels sprouts, sweet potato puree, pickled kale, and bacon.
SO good! Great combination of flavors.
I demolished all of it.
Our friend Tom got a really interesting dish — lamb with octopus?! Isn’t it pretty? I tried some and it was tasty, too. 🙂
Part of the dinner experience also involved using a new app I was recruited to try out via the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. It’s called Serve and is by American Express — it’s essentially a mobile PayPal, which is really cool. The idea is that to simplify the whole awkward paying with a billion credit cards experience that usually ends group dinners, you will simply have one person pay for dinner and then use the app to “bill” the others in the group via email. You can use the app to calculate how much everyone owes, too — it’s pretty neat.
Just like with PayPal, you link the app to your checking or credit card and it will pull the money to send to whoever you owe, via their email address. The app is available on iPhones and Droids — Tom and Janice had an older version of the iPhone and weren’t able to use it, but it worked perfectly on Shane’s iPhone. He was pretty pumped about it. 🙂
Lol.
He was signed up in no time (you get a free $10 credit when you first activate it, yay!) and to try it out, I paid for myself, Matt, and Shane, and then had Shane send me his portion of the bill via the app. It worked perfectly! Very convenient. If you don’t have the app, you can sign up on their website and use it that way from your home computer as well. I got a Serve card sent to me that I used to pay for dinner — it works like a debit card and will pull from the balance in your Serve account. Cool!
This is the type of thing that will only be cool if everyone gets it, so I really hope everyone signs up for it. It’s free and will make paying for group dinners a million times less stressful.
Oh, and don’t worry, there’s even a “pizza party” selection on the app — it helps you decide how many slices you need to order, ha.
Good times. Great dinner with fun friends!
Red wine makes my face red. Don’t judge.
Matt and I are currently in the car on our way to Richmond to see his younger brother Drew perform in the musical “South Pacific”! He’s in a year long traveling show right now and they happened to be performing in Richmond tonight. We’re excited to see him! Matt’s older brother Chris and wife Jess are coming up from NC to meet us there, too. Should be fun. 🙂
Have a great Saturday, friends!
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p.s. Want to win a $100 credit to your Serve account? Comment below within the next 7 days for your chance to win an extra $100 credit to your account! Official sweepstakes rules and regulations may be found by clicking here.
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Disclaimer: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received a $250 stipend to try Serve from American Express.
