a night out

Oh where to start...
Styles and I like to try out food, we have a few favorite places to eat but we make sure we try each new restaurant in town at least twice, recently we realized there are some places in town that have been here for a while that we had yet to sample, after talking to a few friends and getting a feel for what kind of dining experience we wanted we chose [URL="http://www.sanders1907.com/default.htm"]Sanders 1907[/URL] it is arguably the best fine dining establishment in Grand Forks.
The plan was to go see The Golden Compass at the new cinema in East Grand Forks and then have a late dinner, but with my back being messed up and needing help with the horses and such we opted instead to put up our Christmas tree and relax a bit before venturing down town, I appreciated the time to get clean, un-barn smelling and generally make myself pretty.
Sanders is right in the heart of the old center of town, one street away from the river, it's a place filled with old and intriguing buildings and unique shops, our favorite bakery is just a block to the north and the Scandinavian store is a block west. The square across the street hosts the weekly farmers markets as well as concerts and things throughout the summer. Inside the decor is different yet distinctive, my favorite thing was the door to the wine room, it had almost a sculpture on it, the door was glass but over the glass was a beaten copper art piece, it depicted a female statue with vines and grape clusters, along with smaller male figures that were both watering the vines and picking grapes, it was dimensional so as the door opened or as you moved it caught the light and you got flashes of the glass through the open spaces, I should have made Styles take a picture.
The food, oh the food, for appetizer we chose "Wild" Mushrooms and also a shrimp cocktail. The mushrooms were amazing, I was able to identify Portabello, Shitakke and another I knew but can't think of the name of, there were at least 5 different kinds, they were saute'ed and finished in a marsala cream sauce, oh the buttery, garlicky, creamy goodness. The shrimp were very fresh tasting and the cocktail sauce was unique, it had a flavor that took me a while to pinpoint but I think it was tumerick (possibly curry or cardimon as well) very tasty!
For a main course Styles chose BBQ ribs, BBQ [I]buffalo[/I] ribs that is, smoked and covered in chipotle sauce they were divine, the sides were a weird coleslaw, I think it was red cabbage with red and yellow peppers( I didn't try it), also mashed potatoes, creamy, soft, decadent mashed potatoes. You get you pick of five salads with your entree so Styles got his favorite a caesar, I got to eat most of the anchovy from the top :)
I chose Spicy Seafood Linguine, it was scallops, clams, shrimp and squid in spicy red sauce tossed with linguine, it was spicier than I was expecting and a bit to hot for my tastes but the seafood was great! for my salad I picked the Italian, just tomatoes, mozzarella, onions, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, I picked off the onions(I just can't eat them) but the rest was so good, especially with the added anchovy from Styles salad.
After eating all that we both felt to full for desert so I'll have to post a review of their deserts and after dinner drinks some other time, oh darn guess we'll have to go back :D