So Dean and I went back to Visions Restaurant last night. We left home, not knowing where we were going to eat dinner. We looked at the menu of a Latin/Spanish restaurant that we’d never eaten at and at the menu of the New Orleans’s Bistro. We also considered Red Tomato (one of my favorite restaurants in town). After wandering around a bit, we saw that we were on the street near Visions Restaurant. Dean knew I wanted to try it again and said he’d be happy eating there, although he may have preferred somewhere else.

The food at Visions is excellent. I ordered the Arugula Salad and can honestly say it was the best salad I’ve ever eaten. The bitterness of the arugula was offset by the sweetness of the cranberries and smoothness of the goat cheese. Simply wonderful. I want some right now. For breakfast.

For dinner I ordered the spicy shrimp. It, too was very good. True to the name, it was spicy, but not so much that I couldn’t eat it. (although I did end up taking half my plate home — the portion was huge). Dean ordered the Rib eye and proclaimed it delicious. I tasted it, and agreed with him.

I did get to meet Chef Tony this time, but only, I believe, because I asked to meet him. I noticed he paid visits to other tables and expected him to come to ours, but he didn’t until I asked our waiter if she could ask him to come see us. It makes me wonder if perhaps we looked unapproachable in some way (are we too old? were we too underdressed? Did we look like we were always deep in conversation?). Perhaps he now only visits regular customers. Chef Tony was pleasant when we did meet. He shook our hands and recognized my username. He said he liked to meet everyone he feeds.

The thing is — the reason I first went to the restaurant was because it seemed like a welcoming place — and, don’t get me wrong — the wait staff is very welcoming. As soon as you walk through the door you feel like you’re home. I just had never really been anywhere where the chefs made frequent table side visits, and was hoping to have that experience. Silly reason for wanting to go to a restaurant, but there you have it. Sometimes my reasons are not altogether sane.

The food and welcoming waitstaff will entice me back to Visions, perhaps for lunch next time — I see they have my favorite. salad. ever. on their lunch menu too. I’ll just have to give up the idea of chefly visits.

The only thing I’d suggest to Visions is to clean up its web site. Right now it is sort of a mess and much of it is not accessible — meaning it cannot be accessed with a screen reader. I’d suggest Chef Tony learn about WordPress and use a WordPress blog with an elegant template to create his website. The site is packed with valuable information, but the information is a little hard to locate and not exactly pleasing to view. I have no idea how it is updated, but I suspect Chef Tony would find a WordPress blog easier to update.

But — the website is a minor thing. Chef Tony and Chef Iddi are masters at their craft. They are excellent chefs who know how to put together an intriguing menu and create the kinds of dishes you have dreams about. They also know how to hire and train friendly people to work in their restaurant.

Mmm, I think I’ll go have some Spicy Shrimp pasta for breakfast….