Shilla and Opus One

This week we returned to two of our favorite restaurants on opposite sides of the spectrum in more ways than one.

On Thursday night, we treated a former Michigan resident, co-worker of Scottie's, and good friend to both of us, Dan, to some Korean-style barbecue over at Shilla in Clawson.  Since it was Dan's first experience with Korean, Scottie ordered us the Geun Man Doo (pan fried dumplings with beef, pork, tofu and vegetables) and the Shilla Kalbi (boneless marinated beef short ribs cubes).  With the entree, we also added rice, garlic, some of the spicy green onion dish.  Lastly, we topped it all off with a can of Sapporo!  This was certainly an upgrade from our last meal here.  We typically save the barbecue for our favorite Korean restaurant, New Seoul Garden.  But I have to admit, Shilla did not let us down.  We overate, but it was well worth it.

Magically, our appetite returned in time for the Friday night's "Holiday Dinner" observed for Scottie and I as we headed back to our favorite to what I suppose we consider our restaurant of the year: Opus One.  The last time we ate at Opus One, I recall Scottie and I were already penciling in a return visit as we were very pleased with our experience during the Detroit Restaurant Week.  This time we had the opportunity to order from their menu that they keep refreshed with the seasons and the local produce.  It is worth mentioning that we enjoyed the creative display of their caprese salad!