FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Overdue Introduction

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Ariel.  Baily.  This is your introduction.

When Baily moved from Tampa to LA in January, I introduced her to Ariel via Facebook.  But a big city, conflicting schedules, and a missing link (me!) made it tough for an official introduction.

The three of us finally met up last night for dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant near my downtown hotel.  A fancy shmancy Water Grill with a 50 percent discount since Baily is a supervisor at Ocean Avenue (a relative of Water Grill).

We let Baily do her expert ordering thing and ended up with quite the spread: The Grand Iced Shellfish Platter, Diver Scallops, Rock Fish, and Fromage Blanc Cheesecake.

The platter allowed us to sample a huge portion of the raw bar menu, which was phenomenal.  I have a whole new appreciation for oysters with stats beyond the traditional oysters on the half shell that I order at local dives back home.  And both main course dishes were loaded with exotic mushrooms, making the entire table pleased with our selections.

And the cheesecake?  Yum.  The dessert, in its entirety, was prepared in-house and you could totally tell.  The vanilla bean ice cream was the best ice cream I have ever had the pleasure of trying.  No joke.

Even though I’m looking forward to being home and getting back into my routine… I’m really enjoying being the total foodie that I used to be, even if it’s only a temporary thing.

La La Brunch

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Good Morning LA!  Good morning Boxwood Cafe!

Walking downstairs from a flawless hotel room to a flawless brunch is by definition a perfect morning.  We oohed and ahhh-ed at the decor as we made our way to the most immaculate continental setup we’d ever encountered.

A smorgasbord of pastries, quiche, yogurt parfaits, lox, cheeses, and olives? OH-EM-GEE heaven?

Ah, heaven…

Clearly I left dairy-free, meat-free Kristin behind in Tampa.  Clearly.  But the second I found out that Nathan and company were flying in from Dallas to join me in LA this weekend, well, I knew I’d be indulging without hesitation.

Lunch Date!

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I have no food in my house.  As in, I ate popcorn for dinner last night.  And not that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy it, but I totally wouldn’t have eaten popcorn for dinner given a more meal-worthy option.  So today when thoughts of lunch time rolled around, there was no cruising home to make my own meal.

Almost as quickly as it it dawned on me that my fridge was food-less, I remembered that Val’s new job is much closer to my office and we hadn’t had our first lunch date yet.  We met half-way at Thai Terrace, where we were greeted with a small soup and veggie spring roll – standard lunch special treats.

I ordered the Tofu Pad See Ew and Val ordered Sweet and Sour Chicken.  It was the first time I had deviated from their Pad Thai and I couldn’t have been happier with my decision.  Level 4 spicy was right on the money.  Basil and crisp veggies were goodness gracious yum.  We were in-and-out within the hour.  And…  they served some fried sweetness as we waited for the check.

Thai Terrace is all about distracting you with snacks while waiting, which means I’m all about Thai Terrace.

Now I’m off for a Friday afternoon run before meeting Val and Amber for dinner and cocktails!  All this DC-ness has left me missing my friends.

Happy Weekend!!

Intention

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There are roughly three scatter brained thoughts I have going on about dinner tonight.  I’ll start with simple first.  I had a feeling as I drove by Jackson 20 that it was a place I’d like to eat even though it had a “Pig-A-Palooza” sign out front.  Just a feeling.

Partial thought:  When I turned to Google to scope out the best restaurants in Old Town Alexandria, Jackson 20 was near the top.  Convenient.

Relevant thought:  I immediately went to their website to look at the menu and saw mac and cheese, ribs, yada yada, Pig-A-Palooza stuff, then… Vegetable? Tempeh?  I assumed they were smothered in cheese, as most restaurant vegetarian dishes are, and then stumbled upon this:

In order to accommodate every appetite, we are more than happy to offer vegan and vegetarian dishes in addition to our daily menus.

Which brings me to another point: intentional vegetarian.  I read something about intentionally vegetarian dishes at restaurants some time ago, most likely Tal Ronnen related.  It was at that point I could put my finger on why I loved certain dishes so much (Restaurant BT, whaaaaat!).  I have a huge appreciation for dishes that are vegetarian on purpose and not make-shift, dairy covered, thrown together side dish veggies.  Besides, I’d have to order them without cheese and then they’d be make-shift squared.  A bummer.

So all that scattered-ness brings me to the Roasted Vegetable Napoleon.  Wow. It had simple layers filled with flavorful bulgur wheat and complimentary pureed sauces.  It filled the fancy void that foodie vegetarians have, the void that was most likely responsible for me returning to the pescatarian world.  It was a version of something I wish could be on every menu at restaurants that are reservation and eyeliner worthy.  It was…  exactly what I wanted.