Sophistication for All Seasons: Seasons 52

After dealing with scrapes and bruises, homework, dirty laundry, and making mac 'n cheese, every parent is looking for a little sophistication in their lives.  My husband and I have been to Seasons 52 twice and have found that its sophisticated atmosphere allows you to escape from your hectic day. 

The menu for Seasons 52 is seasonally inspired and uses local ingredients.  Since the menu changes four times a year, it is somewhere that would be fun to try with each changing season.  While you are almost always automatically indulging the minute you step into a restaurant, Seasons keeps the damage to your waist at a minimum.  Everything on the menu is less than 475 calories---definitely not diet killers!  Since their meals are not loaded with fillers, you can actually savor each component of your meal without one element dominating.

Among Season's novelties are its "mini indulgences," desserts that come in oversized shot glasses.  These mini indulgences allow you to satiate your sweet tooth without totally destroying your diet.   The fresh dessert selections are brought directly to your table in a display.  You can choose your dessert right from the display--avoiding a wait.  My husband's one complaint about this--if you order coffee, it will be served after you have eaten the dessert.  I guess that you could wait for your coffee before indulging--but I do not know many people that could resist the temptation!



My husband and I have enjoyed our meals at Seasons.  The first time we went, I ordered the tuna roll and I ate it in about 3 seconds (albeit a graceful 3 seconds since I used chopsticks!).  My husband warmed up with the buffalo chili and ate it about as fast as I ate my tuna roll.  He absolutely loved it!  The second time, I savored the turkey burger.  Since the burger was not filled unwanted extras, I could really enjoy its flavor.  It was topped with mozzarella cheese and fresh tomatoes.  Very simple, yet delectable.    My husband tried the sirloin steak with a tomato carpaccio salad.   He thoroughly enjoyed the salad, basically licking the plate clean.  While he enjoyed the beef, he felt that the vegetables were not as fresh as expected.   We are not quite sure what happened there since everything else was great.

Despite this stumble, we both agree that we would go back to Seasons.  I love that it provides a sophisticated dining experience where one can indulge without guilt.  It is a great way to add a little refinement to your life after a week of wrangling the kids.