It’s definitely Christmas time in St. Michaels, that is for sure. I spent the weekend up there with my family, and we decorated the tree, got the house ready for the holidays, and experienced our very first St. Michaels Midnight Madness. And it was madness all right.
This cute, quaint, quiet town got all dressed up, and everyone came out of the woodwork. Young, old, you name it, they were out and about at midnight celebrating the holiday with all the great sales!
And trust me…sales there were!
The town really lit up for Midnight Madness and was quite a scene. It definitely put me in the holiday spirit.
They were even providing nourishment to keep up with all the shopping!
The night before my family dined at Ava’s Pizzeria and Wine Bar, essentially the new(er) kid in town. I’ve mentioned this restaurant before, but this was my first time dining there as just a regular patron.
It is a very small restaurant, and upon walking in I was pushed up against the wall with a crowd of loud people inside. I didn’t let that bother me because I knew the food would be worth it. Some of the people cleared out, and my mom, dad, and I got a glass of wine at the bar.
I went with the Temptation Zinfandel since I was feeling the need for something warm and spicy. The zin wasn’t as big as I had hoped, but I still enjoyed it.
We were finally seated at a cozy table in the middle of the small restaurant where we could see the kitchen and the wood fire oven.
We started with the Doreen’s Vegan Pizza to share, which was a warm crusty dough topped with arugula, fennel, artichokes, and kalmata olives.
It also tasted as if there was a little lemon oil drizzled on there as well. To me, all this pizza needed was a little marinara sauce or even a balsamic reduction may have been nice. The pizza was very fresh, the arugula gave it a nice peppery kick, and the crust was incredible.
For my entree I chose the special, which was baby lamb chop lollipops in a mustard sauce with whipped potatoes and green beans in garlic and olive oil.
The amount of food was just perfect, and everything tasted so well together. The dinner was really fantastic, and I ate it with another glass of Temptation Zin. I like the fact that it was not too much meat since there was really only a bite or two on each, and I really loved the sauce that it came with.
We had a lovely warm, cozy, dinner, and everyone was perfectly satisfied. I’ve always loved this restaurant, and I think they are really onto something.
