Bodylines and Va de Vie-My Opinion Only

So in less than 10 days my household suffered 3 bouts of stomach bug, the croup and an ear infection. 2 of the cases of stomach bug were my three and four year old and we know how unsuccessful toddlers are in vomiting where they are supposed to vomit. The first case of vomiting and diarrhea was me! And when mom ends up in the emergency room getting 2 liters of I.V. fluid then everyone suffers. My husband and I were exhausted.


Our Valentine's Day was spent sipping champagne between loads of barfy laundry. So by President's Day we were ready for a break. I begged our sitter to come that Monday afternoon and I scored us 2-60 minute massages at Bodylines Day Spa in San Ramon for only $149.



My husband got an excellent massage but the girl that I had was way into deep tissue and I now have a giant bruise on my calf. She was at least 6 inches shorter than I am but this chick was tough! But a mediocre massage is way better than no massage. My husband and I showered there (not together) and then headed to Walnut Creek for dinner.

We went to Va de Vie, for our first visit. This is a small plates kind of place so you can order many dishes and share. Erik and I have big appetites and ordered a lot. I could have ordered more but I decided to enjoy the 4 pounds I lost after the stomach virus.

Va de Vie has an amazing wine list and you can order 3 glasses at once (a flight) or by the glass. So you can pair different wine with different dishes. The wine list is interesting enough to read if your date is boring. I ordered a flight of sparkling wine and tried not to chug-a-lug them. Erik got The Bailout which was a flight of red for $9.99! 3 glasses of wine for $9.99 is a good deal and they were tasty.

You can order all your dishes at once and the come out willy-nilly, whichever gets cooked first. And you can order stuff later too if you are still hungry. The first dish to arrive was the Miso Beef Salad. More greens than beef, just 4 very slender slices, with some thin noodles as well. Delicious but not exceptional. Pomme Frites, basically garlic fries and of course they were awesome. Erik got the Ahi Tartare, all for himself because I am not that into fish. He said it was amazing, and it looked very pretty. Then came our Mushroom Gnocchi. My second favorite dish of the evening. It tasted like a gourmet Stroganoff. The Gnocchi were not too chewy, the mushrooms were very flavorful, and the rich, creamy sauce I wanted to drink. But my overall favorite dish was the Duck Confit. The duck was not gamey at all, the skin was crisp, the meat was falling off the bones and it came with plum sauce and steamed buns. (like Dim Sum) Wow! That was sooooo good.

Dessert was a mini pecan pie for Erik and I got the profiteroles with vanilla gelato, you just can't screw that up and they didn't. The service was excellent and it's both a romantic and casual bistro.

My only complaint was the bathroom. It was dirty. Not gas station bathroom dirty but fast food restaurant dirty. I was really surprised and grossed out. They weren't that busy that evening so I didn't understand why it was so messy and why nobody could pop in there and clean it up.

But seriously after the couple of weeks Erik and I had we would have been happy eating at Burger King if it meant some time alone.