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C is for...cooking
Wednesday, 1 March 2006
Cafe de la Paz, Bakesale Betty's, Zax Tavern, Thai Temple
Cafe de la Paz

Chris, Chanda, Ai, Jon G, & I went there to celebrate my birthday!:) Chanda had made reservations online, but they never called for a confirmation & alas, they didn't have it in their books. But, we got there at a good time & there was an empty table for us.

When you enter a bar is to a right, & forward is the banquet room, which was empty, & upstairs was the normal dining area. The banquet room was about the same size as the dining area, which I was surprised about.

We ordered:
Tapas:

Cachapas de Jojoto - $6.95
The Cafes Signature Venezuelan Corn Cakes.

Platanos Fritos - $3.95
Ripe Fried Plantains with Ancho Chile Creme.

Quesadilla - $6.95
The quesadilla tonight was different than the one on the menu. It had smoked chicken & mango salsa.

Llapingacho - $5.75
Ecuadorian Potato Cake w/fried Plantains.

Entrees:

Argentinean BBQ - $14.95
Grilled certified Angus carne asada with grilled onions, peppers and chimichurri - a piquant cilantro, parsley vinaigrette served with chipotle-mashed potatoes and black beans.

Xim Xim de Pollo ~ Brazilian, Chicken Skillet Stew - $12.95
Chicken, selected vegetables, & roasted almond pieces in a coconut milk-jalepeno cream sauce served with rice

Tamal Azteca - Vegetarian Tamale Pie - $11.95
Zesty organic roasted tomato & red chile sauce, fresh mushrooms, corn & spinach layered with jack cheese & corn tortillas, served with black beans & avocado

Dessert:

Fresh Fruit Crisp with Kahlua-whipped cream - $5.00
Tonight it was with mango, pineapple, & other fruits

Drink:

Classic Mojito - $6.00

I loved the corncakes. But that's probably because I love sweet & savory things. The plantains were awesome as well. Everyone loved the quesadillas. They were very fancy & yummy. Everything was topped with the ancho chile cream.

I haven't had a mojito before & this was a good one. The mint was not as strong as I thought it'd be, but that's probably the way it was sup'd to be.

The BBQ was good, but not fabulous. There was a lot of salad & beans & not very much meat. The Brazilian stew was interesting. The almonds in it added a nice crunch. As Chanda later said that I agreed with is it reminded us of Thai coconut based curries & we liked those better because there was a lot more complez flavors. The tamal pie was delicious, but I could definitely see myself making that myself. It was out of the ordinary. Instead of actual tamal corn masa-y base it was layered with corn tortillas. It was also very difficult to split & eat because it was just big layers. So, we ended up with random layers of the "pie."

Tapas were REALLY good though. I would order a bunch of those instead of any entrees. I wasn't as impressed.

The dessert was not amazing either. The crisp part wasn't as crispy as I had hoped & it was hard to tell the difference between the fruits inside. The whipped cream, however, was amazing. It had just the right amount of Kahlua.

The night was great though. The ambience was very romantic. & the owner was surprisingly nice to us (despite the past experiences of jon g & chris)



Bakesale Betty's

it was busy this time so no freebies or discount which was disappointing but that's ok i guess. chanda got choc chip & choc chip & walnut cookies..she said both were good. she also got the lemon bar & brownie & lamington...chris & i shared a bag of 6 ginger cookies & i also got a brownie & lamington...then we all shared a vanilla shortcake

the shortcake was phenomonal...it was fresh & warm & like a sweet vanilla biscuit topped with sugar...we finished it before heading to zax

the lamington was a vanilla sponge cake with strawberry jam filling & then covered w/ chocolate & coconut...it stayed soft til the next day! i was surprised...it was delish

the brownie was only ok for me...the main part was soft & fudgy but cakey too, but the top was hard & crunchy...some people may like that but unfortunately it's not my favorite...i like consistently soft & chewy texture for a brownie...my favorite is still bread workshop's valhorna brownie..though i have yet to try scharffen berger's adult brownie

i think my favorite there is still the ginger cookie...it stays soft & chewy forever! it's been 3-4 days already! (i've been rationing it)...it has chunks of crystallized ginger that are not too spicy but sweet & add good texture...soo good



Zax Tavern

We didn't have reservations so we were seated near the front window. The hostess seemed to be a little too good for us (we were not dressed up), but tried to not let it show. Our waitress, though, was very friendly and added to our conversation.

We sat next to a man & woman that we couldn't figure out if they were married or not. We were both eavesdripping on each other.

We were very excited to see the butter in a little ceramic bowl (like Chez Panisse). It was yummy.

We started with the twice-baked Goat Cheese Souffle with apple, celery, fennel salad, and cider vinaigrette ($8). It was delicious. The goat cheese was very subtley there & the salad was the perfect complement. It was very light & fluffy.

Chris got the Red Wine Braised Beef Short Ribs
w/ Yukon gold potato puree, rainbow chard and horseradish cream ($19.75). Chanda got a pressed sandwich with Black Forest Ham, Gruyere cheese,
caramelized onions, and balsamic mustard ($8) and a side of Yukon gold potato puree ($3.75) I got the Seared Day Boat Scallops with warm pancetta-dandelion green salad, potato-chive croquettes and Meyer lemon beurre blanc ($21). We shared a side of crispy sage polenta ($3.75).

Chris' was fall off the bone delicious. Chanda said hers was a bit salty after a while, but the bite I had was yummy too. The puree was very very smooth & naturally buttery. My scallops were super tender & perfect with the meyer lemon buerre blanc. There were only 3 on the plate & I kinda felt skimped. The pancetta was cubed & it was good but it was hard to enjoy in chunks especially in the salad. The croquettes were basically the Yukon gold potato puree with chives in it & pan fried. The buerre blanc made the whole plate. The sage polenta was a perfect rectangular prism. It was perfectly crispy on the outside & so creamy & smooth on the inside.

Then we got the brownie turtle parfait for dessert. It was layers of fudge, pastry cream, roasted pecans, brownie, and whipped cream. It was rich & delicious.

We were soooo full. I think the sides put us over the edge.

At one point during the evening, Chris said he was going to do drinking tonight (motioning drinking w/ his cupped hand to mouth) & the woman at the next table just started laughing. We looked at her & she said "sorry sorry! i just heard i'm going drinking tonight & no you aren't young man!" chris said "but i'm 23!" & she said "you're still too young!" & he said "well i'm staying over afterwards!" & she said "ok i guess that's ok. at least you're being safe about it" & chanda & i were just laughing cuz she sounded like his mom & the man w/ her was listening but seemed annoyed & then motioned to their table "our dinner" & motioned to our table "their dinner" & repeated the motion "our evening" "their evening."

The bill was almost $100 for the 3 of us. It was really good, but not good enough to go back.

We were the only minorities & definitely the youngest at the restaurant. It made us feel a little awkward.



Thai Temple

Chanda & I went at 10:15 ish. It was already a lot more crowded than the first time I went. Chanda got the yellow curry, squash curry, & pad thai over rice. I got the noodle soup. It looked like pho, but you could choose the noodles (vermecelli, rice stick thick or thin). The soup was complex: salty, spicy, sweet, sour. It came w/ a little bit of meat, meatballs, celery, cilantro, pickled something. It was really good. I would totally crave it. Then we shared a mango w/ sticy rice for dessert. It was so good. I've never had it before. We got the plain one because I thought the other one had red bean & chanda isn't a fan of that, but it turns out it was just black sticky rice like the one my mom used to make. Some came with this custardy stuff. We will get that next time. The sticky rice was mixed with sugar & coconut milk & chewy in contrast to the sweet/tart and crunchy mango. Yum-o

Posted by blog/c_is_for at 2:49 AM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 1 March 2006 1:08 PM EST
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Thursday, 2 March 2006 - 11:45 PM EST

Name: di

ah, your making me crave everything even though I never had any of it before. especially.... yea, you know it already. I don't even have to say it. haha.

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