Stone Cove's Kit Bar

It was Friday night. I was in the mood to relax and be at the beach. Since I couldn't be at the beach at that moment, I decided we needed a proper date night at a restaurant that made it feel like we were at the beach. So we decided on Stone Cove's Kit Bar in Herndon. It doesn't have a particularly be achy feel but its not a restaurant we go to very often and it is the type of restaurant we might look for when we're on vacation at the beach. The weather was nice and balmy so it was as close to being on vacation at the beach as we were gonna get that night. I'll take it.

This is a fairly unique kind of restaurant as almost all the seating is bar seating.  There are a couple booth off the side but you really want to be at the huge long bar that takes up the entire center of the restaurant. If you just have a party of 2, you can easily get two regular barstools. If you have a party of 3 or 4 there are a few small bar tables built into the bar itself, as well as a few other regular bar tables surrounding it so no matter where you sit you still have that "bar feel".

Their food menu is fairly small but everything is pretty tasty and filling. While they do offer a few entrees, the main event is flatbreads and small plates. They have quite a few seafood offerings, which we were sort of avoiding. As much as we love seafood, we're waiting to see if hubby might have developed a seafood allergy. Yikes! *Fingers crossed* he doesn't… But there are plenty of non-seafood items as well.

lobster cones from previous visit

also previous visit...crab lettuce wraps in the making

crab lettuce wrap about to be eaten

Pet peeve moment: All small plates are meant for sharing, no matter what restaurant you're in. If you don't like sharing, you shouldn't be ordering small plates. Its kinda annoying when you take someone out to eat for small plates and they hoard their small plates all to themselves and don't even offer to share!…okay pet peeve rant over.

I don't think these are on the menu anymore and I'm not even sure I remember what they are but I know they were yummy!

previous visit: ahi tuna sashimi

Anywho…we began with a Mackinac Flatbread…definitely enough for at least two people. It is topped with bacon, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheddar cheese, and your choice of steak, chicken or shrimp (we chose steak) and drizzled with a jalpeno mayo sauce. As if all those flavors aren't delicious enough on their own but combined it was euphoric. They cook all their flatbreads in a big stone oven in the middle of the open kitchen that sits in the middle of the bar. What I like most about their flatbreads is they cook the meat separately and add it to the top after they take the flatbread out of the oven. Most of the time, its added before it goes in the oven and it ends up overcooked and chewy. This steak however was medium rare, as requested, and perfectly seasoned. Almost as good as if we had ordered just a steak at a high-end restaurant.

Then we decided to split a sandwich…the Bayou Quarter French Dip.  A toasted ciabatta bread with sliced prime rib that was super juicy and tender, you almost didn't need the au jus…almost! Along with the au jus it was also served with jalepeno mayo for dipping as well. And a bag of chips! While a french dip sandwich is not usually my favorite, I have to say I would most definitely order it again from here!

sometimes I get so hungry and into eating that I forget to take pictures...

If you decide you want to check this place out, make sure you save room for their flatbread s'mores!!

previous visit: we took these home, still yummy hours later!