We visited Alfa last night to sample their brand new menu cooked up by a French chef and featuring some really delicious seafood, as well as other dishes.

We started off with some bruschetta and tapas, which should hopefully become the centerpiece of some upcoming evening events and promotions at Alfa, and the highlight of the whole night, which was the appetizer plate of mussels cooked with garlic butter and served on a plate of crunchy sea salt. The salads were a little less exciting, but the main courses, especially the lamb ribs and the steak with blue cheese sauce, hit the spot.

Their seafood main courses include several more mussel dishes, which seem to be the theme of the new menu, and rightly so. Alfa's owner says he's contemplating opening a new eatery devoted exclusively to mussels, and we can't wait. While the cod in saffron sauce sounded less exciting to us at first, the flavors and textures of the dish definitely exceeded expectations.

Desserts - a lemon tart and a cheesecake - were both exceptional, so it's clear the new chef has more up her sleeve than just great mussels.

While our sampling menu didn't include any prices, we hope we'll be able to afford many plates of the mussels appetizer this summer, especially if we can enjoy them in Alfa's new seating area, where the little indoor streams now run under your kang-inspired table, with room for you to sit with your feet dangling in the stream. While we predict more than a few lost flip flops with this new design, it's definitely some of the coolest VIP seating we've seen for a while.