La Bodeguita del Medio

I really feel the Bay Area and especially Silicon Valley is top notch when it comes to restaurants and variety. I'm not a fan of chain restaurants and I feel so fortunate to live so close to many small, unique places to eat. And I feel the competition is so fierce here, you have to be good to survive. Since we know our time in Palo Alto is somewhat limited, Marc and I have made a deal that whenever we go out to eat, we will try someplace new. The sad part is, since we don't get to go out often, when there is a place we really like, I know we probably wont be going there again. A small thing to complain about: too many good places to eat.


This past week we went out for our 10-year anniversary! Whoop whoop! Thanks to Taylor for stepping in last minute to watch our sweet new baby and two sleeping children. We went to a Cuban restaurant on California Ave, La Bodeguita del Medio. I didn't take any pictures, but I found a pic of what I got on the internet. It's not the best picture but probably better than I could take.

I ordered the Tierra Y Mar which was skirt steak and cocunut crusted shrimp drizzled with a cilantro/avocado pesto. Oh boy! Was this yummy. Disclaimer: I'm in love with cilantro so that could bias my opinion, because I generally devour anything with cilantro involved. But the steak was cooked perfectly and was so yummy tender. The shrimp was not overly battered but had that subtle sweet cocunut taste. And the pesto (the part that had cilantro in it), well, if I was not in public, I seriously would have licked the plate clean.

Marc ordered the Ropa Vieja, a traditional Cuban dish of shredded skirt steak, peppers and tomatoes served over rice and fried plantains. His was good. But, we both agreed, mine was better. I always feel guilty when I order the better dish, but I also was a little happy inside. Is that bad?

Enough said? Try it out. I don't think you will be dissapointed. We weren't. But, we also hadn't been out to eat in two months and were starving for some time away from the kids. You are an angel Taylor.

Better late than never, right?

3/21/11
Good thing we have great friends and LOVE talking, otherwise, this night could have been a bust. I'll review the positives and negatives later of Sliderbar Cafe. More importantly, we celebrated Ronna and any time Ronna is around, you know you'll laugh and be entertained by this fun gal. We hope you had a fun birthday and loved celebrating with you!
Cindy, I know you'll love the personal shot, but I had to document that you were up and out on the town, without your newborn of only 10 days or so, looking fabulous. Way to go!

Now for the food:

Positives:
1- Presentation was nice, we liked how the fries were served in the tin bucket. I personally liked the sauce for the fries.
2- In theory, sliders are fun and it was good to go as a group and try so many different ones.
3- The barbque pork was the hit of the night.

Negatives:
1- This is a tiny restaurant and we had to wait forever to get a table. Next time, don't come with more than 2 if you want to be seated sooner than 45 mintues.
2- The fries were cold! The sweet potato fries had potential, but could have been better.
3- The burgers were just so, so. The pulled bbq was a favorite, the orginal was also a close second. The serrano chili southwestern slider was too hot, the California chicken slider needed more flavor, and Mediterranean was fine but nothing to get super excited about. Overall we thought their sliders needed more personalality, punch, and pizzaz.
4- The lava cake, although nice to look at, could not be considered a "lava" cake since there was no lava. Luckily Ronna's came free for her birthday.
5- Service was lacking and I'm not a tough critic when it comes to waiters. Maybe I had lost all patience after waiting over an hour for our table, but the guy seemed a little distracted, not interested or attentive to the basics, like making sure we had enough plates, waters, etc.

Sorry, Sliderbar Cafe, I think if I want a fancy burger I'll go to the Counter next time.

Quick, Easy, Fresh Pizza/Pasta Sauce

My favorite way to do a quick marinara is this:

2 TBS extra-virgin olive oil

2 minced garlic cloves

1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the garlic is sizzling, about 1 1/2 minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes and simmer until the sauce is thickened, about 15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  Recipe is from America's Test Kitchen.  

Calafia Cafe!

Hi ladies,

I've been to Calafia Cafe once, had a great experience, and have been dying to go back!

Let's all dish there together!

When: Wednesday, May 18th, 8 p.m.

Where: Calafia Cafe: Town & Country Village (855 El Camino Real at embarcadero Road)

Who: The more, the merrier! Please leave a comment on the blog to let us know you're coming!

You can look at their reviews on Yelp, and their menu has two sides: vegetarian and one for meat eaters. Both have great, delicious options!

Please let me know if there is a huge conflict with this night that I didn't know about (besides the fact that American Idol is on--but you can all come over to my house and watch after we chow down!).

Looking forward to it!

taylor

P.S. The owner and chef, Charlie Ayers, was the former head chef at the Google Cafe, so it has to be good, right?? ;)

Tamarine

Sea bass

I've wanted to try out Tamarine for years and Matt and I finally splurged and went there for my birthday.  We LOVED it!  They had the best calamari we have ever had.  We also loved the sea bass, shaking beef, and clay pot pork.  Desserts were delicious as well - we had the lava cake and the sticky toffee pudding and loved them!  I don't have much else to say - just, that if you're looking for a great place to go and you don't mind spending a bit more than usual, go there!! 

Lava cake

Celebrate Ronna's Birthday

Whether or not you are pregnant you might be craving some meat. Don't we all need a little IRON boost to our diet? At our next "Let's Dish" night we will celebrate Ronna's Birthday at a fairly new hamburger place on University Ave called Sliderbar Cafe. Check it out at:

www.sliderbarcafe.com

WHEN:
Monday, March 21st

LOCATION:
324 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94301
(between Bryant & Waverly)

TIME:
8:00pm (after FHE)

Please RSVP by leaving a comment on the blog.

Opening Night: The Crepevine

The Crepevine was a great place to meet for our first-ever-of-hopefully-many-more Let's Dish evenings.  It was casual, tasty comfort food served in a bright, clean, and friendly space.  Fairly fresh ingredients (as fresh as berries can be in February), large portions, and accommodating service made this a great place to hang out!  The Tri-Berry crepe (strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries served with nutella) was the most popular - but the Californian and Sante Fe were great savory options that also came with delicious roasted potatoes!  I forgot to add that all of the sweet crepes come with whipped cream and ice cream - YUM. 

The Tri-Berry

The Californian

 Sadly, not every crepe was a success.  Suzi and Holly ordered the Santorini which had walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, mascarpone cheese, cinnamon, and coconut.  The chefs at Crepevine were skimpy on the coconut and overcooked the crepes, creating a crispy, dry, and nutty experience.  Everyone who tasted this agreed that the crepe was an enormous failure. 

The Disappointing Santorini

While the crepes were good, April mentioned that she has a crepe recipe that is better - April, feel free to post it on the blog! I'd love to give it a try.  And as long as we're talking crepes, Heather, you should get Dave to post his famous recipe. 

All in all, we had a great time and can't wait to see where Holly takes us next month! 

P.S. I took my kids back here this past weekend - it is a great place for kids.  They loved the food and they each received a small pack of Wiki Stix to play with while waiting. 


P.S.S. I'm sorry about the weird blurry picture and lack of more fun pics - I didn't check my camera settings before giving the camera to our nice waiter.  And, I meant to take more pics and just forgot because I was having way too much fun!