Y’all know how much we love nine-ten. It’s just such a great restaurant, and while we love mercy of the chef for special occasions, we also love trying new seasonal dishes throughout the year as well.

If you remember, we were lucky enough to be re-located to the grande colonial during our escape from the slab leak of ‘23. And it was fantastic to be able to have nine-ten as our hotel restaurant; most especially introducing it to the kiddos. Who now want to eat there on the regular.

Which is both a good and a bad thing.

We started with the harland hazy, because ipa, obviously. It’s always one of jamie’s go-tos.

I hadn’t tried the passionate affair before, but what’s there not to love. the passion fruit was excellent, and there was even a bit of puree in the drink as well, if I am not mistaken. Light, bright, fruity, but not overly sweet. I would totally order again in a heartbeat.

Pro tip: order the parker rolls. I can’t even begin to accurately describe them. It’s like they are brushed with a honey butter, but it’s even more than that… it sorta seeps into the roll itself, making the perfect bite when slathered with the salted butter that accompanies them.

Avy has started getting into mocktails… most especially because they are fruit forward. I love trying them as well. And this one was great.

What I love about pear cocktails, is that they are never overly sweet. They’re the perfect compliment. And here the lemon complimented the pear perfectly… and y’all know how I feel about club soda. Drink it on the daily… now I’m just going to add some pear, instead of my usual lime juice

This dish has been on the menu for 20 years… and we’ve been ordering it on the regular, basically since then.

It’s the pickled mushrooms. And the scallion vin. And the fresh fish.

It’s basically everything all in one. The only problem? It’s now avy’s favorite dish, and if she’s with us, we get none of it.

It’s really hard to compare and contrast the two raw fish starters, because they are both so different.

While the hamachi packs a giant flavor punch, the halibut was much more understated and delicate of a plate. You really had to get in there and try all the ingredients together in one cohesive bite, as the flavors weren’t as mixed.

As a late comer to the raw halibut game, I was impressed with the subtlety and how light of a dish it was.

I seriously can’t say enough good things about this gnocchi. Perfect little potato pillows. Not too dense, not overly worked. Not underder cooked… so many things can go wrong with gnocchi and these were simply technically perfect.

Top that with a perfect buttery sauce, fresh peas, and morels. Can I tell you how much I love morels? I really, really, really do.

The other thing I have to say is that this dish was so deceptively light. You think it would be heavy. It’s not. You’d think it might make you too full. It doesn’t.

Order the gnocchi.

Yet another excellent mocktail. Made with all my favorite things. I love blackberry anything. And the combo with ginger and lemon?!? Guess who’s got an idea for a bourbon mule coming to the website soon.

Love a good buttery chardonay, and hill family is one of my all time favs. Pretty sure I first had it at nine-ten years ago during a mercy of the chef birthday wine pairing dinner, and have loved it ever since.

If a dish has artichoke in the description, it’s pretty much a guarantee that I’m gonna order it.

I love artichokes.

And why have I never thought to pair them with fish? Why?

Kicking myself right about now.

The halibut was perfectly cooked, moist and flavorful. And that broth? Would it be rude to ask for a cup of it on the side to drink? Asking for a friend.

Nine-ten is one of the few places jamie will even entertain the idea of ordering lamb. He finds it way too gamey at most restaurants, and refuses to try.

The joy of the mercy of the chef, is that sometimes they serve lamb. And jamie knows how well chef jay cooks lamb. Thus we get to order it off the menu here.

This lamb was perfectly cooked, no gameyness.. just epic flavor.

Also, I know for a while there, ramp season was crazy. Ramps were everywhere… it’s slowed down in popularity a bunch… but not gonna lie… i still love ramps and am not upset when they are added to a dish. I think it just adds an extra punch, without overpowering a dish.

Also? Blackberries and lamb? Yes please. I totally want to do a blackberry compote or vin sauce to serve with grilled lamb chops this summer.

This dessert! So fresh, so lemony, so tasty.

The texture was perfect. The fresh citrus a perfect balance to the lemony semifreddo. The mint gave an extra pop of freshness.

I don’t like my desserts overly sweet (are we sensing a theme here); and this wasn’t. It really was the perfect bite.

And paired perfectly with the recommend dessert wine.

This is not a dish to sleep on.

All in all just another excellent meal thanks to the wonderful team at nine-ten.