David Theus

Sometimes it’s difficult to break from the norm and venture out to do something different. After several weeks of coming home from work, taking the kids to all of their activities, it takes all you can muster to grab a bite at any one of our three, maybe four places to eat, much less try to fix a meal at home. You need a change of pace - how about dinner and a movie?

I love going over to San Marco for a bite and a movie much more than fighting the crowds over at the Orange Park Mall. A favorite restaurant of mine is the Bistro X located at 1440 San Marco Boulevard in San Marco. I like the Bistro X because they always make you feel special. They open at 5:00pm on Saturday evenings, which is great because there is plenty of parking available and you can have dinner and still make an early movie.

Bistro X is not the least expensive alternative, but sometimes you have to just go and have a good time. I enjoy their impeccable table service, great specials and consistent menu. I suggest a nice cocktail or a glass of wine from their extensive yet friendly cellar to start the evening just right. My favorite dish there is really simple. They have this smoked roasted tomato soup that is served with a dollop of goat cheese as a starter. For my entrée I always get the Prosciutto & Goat Cheese Pizza. It’s made with Mozzarella and Asiago and Provolone cheese, with roasted red peppers and lots of herbs.

Keep in mind when ordering any of their gourmet pizzas, these are prepared in the fashion you would find in northern Italy, very thin crust, and fired in an oak wood burning oven. Some parts of the thin crust are just slightly burned underneath which gives the pizza an additional smoky flavor.

Sheila ordered an appetizer for us to split of Oak Fired Sea Scallops served over Moroccan Spiced potatoes and baby veggies with a curry yogurt sauce that was to die for. These scallops were the size of golf balls and the fire of the oak wood oven somehow caramelized the natural sugars of the scallops giving off a sweet slightly crispy out side to them. Yum, Yum!

For her entrée, she ordered the Filet Mignon on fresh green beans served in a braised red wine shallot sauce with al-gratin potatoes. She said the steak was incredible! She knows her steak; I’ll leave it at that. After dinner we loaded up the car and head for a parking spot in the square. This past Saturday night was a wine tasting with live Jazz and tents full of wine merchants sampling their wines. That was just added people watching for sure.

We made it to the San Marco Movie Theatre just in time to purchase tickets for the 7:00pm show and still have some time to walk and window shop. The movie was the new Jerry Seinfeld “Bee Movie”, it was cute and a good laugh. All in all a dinner and a movie was a welcomed change from the norm. Try it sometime, you might just like it. Enjoy.