For most college students, a nice dinner is anything not involving the cafeteria or fast food. Fine dining is reserved for those rare nights at a sit down restaurant; however broke boyfriends can rejoice that Blue Canyon Kitchen & Tavern in Rockwall has a well-kept secret called date night.
The restaurant is located right off of Lake Ray Hubbard, which provides a romantic backdrop as the sun sets through the giant windows of the lodge inspired tavern. Patrons can also choose to enjoy the lakeside patio. The night I went, there was a live guitarist strumming relaxing melodies and was later on in the night accompanied by a couple of intoxicated cougar-groupies.
Blue Canyon describes itself as a destination dining experience, a statement which holds up once inside the expansive restaurant. The decorate branches that reach towards the ceiling, Aspen logs hanging in rows from the rafters, and even a large, welcoming fireplace all lend the atmosphere of a fine, national park’s lodge.
New age music adds a cool ambience, and Navajo-inspired draperies and decorations seem to add a desert theme.
On Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Blue Canyon has an unadvertised date night at $30 a couple. The price includes two appetizers, two entrées, two desserts, and a take-home dessert per couple. Additional drinks besides water are extra.
The menu is selective for the evening, but starts off with a wild green salad topped with a maple balsamic dressing, tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions. Don’t worry about filling up on the endless warm rolls brought to the table, because the entrée portions are hardly self-sustainable. The bread comes with an unusual sun-dried tomato and basil spread that you will be asking for more of.
Couples can choose between chicken, seafood, vegetarian pasta, a beef, or a pork entrée. Between two couples, our table ordered the six-ounce steak, glazed chicken, and pretzel-crusted trout. The fish comes with a whole-grain mustard caper butter, and the chicken and steak were served with a helping of mashed potatoes and a smattering of fresh steamed green beans.
The plates were big, but the portions were not. This applied to even the final course of the meal, a choice of two of the desserts on the menu. My date and I opted for the smores dessert versus the pecan tartelette.
Our dessert, which we choose as our to-go option as well, has an in-house made graham cracker crust and marshmallow topping with a chocolate and peanut butter ganoshe. It was a wonderful way to end the meal, but the tiny size looked lonely on the edge of an expansive rectangular dish.
Afterwards, a walk with your date along The Harbor is the perfect way to end the night, unless you want to grab some coffee at a nearby café called Scooter’s.
Overall Blue Canyon is a step up from the normal dinner and a movie date, without putting a burden on the finances. It’s easy to pay more than $30 for a three-course meal for two at Chili’s, but you don’t get the intimate atmosphere or quality of food Blue Canyon offers.