For my birthday dinner, my husband and I celebrated at Zola. It is one of the nicer restaurants in State College, PA – a town filled with restaurants targeting college students (and their budgets). I took some photos of our meal. Mind you I took the photos using my iPhone, so quality is not up to par with my SLR, but you get the idea.

We started off with some delicious cocktails: Hendricks martini for me, and a Basil Basil for J which included bourbon, basil, and ginger beer. It was delicious and I will definitely be recreating it at home.

To go with our cocktails, we shared the crabcake with caper remoulade and mango.

We also shared the wild mushroom pate. Bacon wrapped pate with slivers of wild mushrooms inside, pickled vegetables, two types of mustard, and toasted brioche.

For our main courses, J had the ribeye with gorgonzola creamed spinach, Brussels sprouts, and “tater tot” stacks (bigger versions of tater tots). Did I forget to mention half a head of roasted garlic? Oh yeah, that was amazing. I stole some cloves for my dish as well.

I had the duck breast with duck leg confit, gnocchi, and kale. Both were cooked perfectly, seasoned well, and perfect portions.

We went simple for dessert with some vanilla and dutch chocolate ice cream to go with some after dinner drinks and espresso.

Overall we had a wonderful experience. Service was impeccable. Both the maitre d’ and our waiter asked where we parked to make sure we wouldn’t get towed. The ambiance was nice, and the open kitchen allows you to get a glimpse at the chefs as they work. They also have a bar area where they offer food off the same menu, and are open an hour later than the restaurant. All of the appetizers called to me, and I will definitely be back, grab a seat at the bar, and check off a few more appetizers on their list.

Zola New World Bistro
324 W. College Ave
State College, PA 16801