.
How many times have we been to iScream, together or separately? Who can say. I have settled on getting a Mexican Chocolate / Salted Caramel each time, but Lady Steed's choice of Raspberry this time filled me with regret for sticking with my standby. That was some fine raspberry ice cream. May raspberries stay in season long enough for us to swing by once more.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
The Hot Shop
.
I don't know any other Afghan/Mexican-fusion burrito shops, but we quite enjoyed our first visit to Albany's popular Hot Shop, just a smidge around the corner from Solano on San Pablo.
Lady Steed got the artichoke-lamb; I got the garlic-lime-chicken. I liked mine better, but hers was great. About what you'd suspect, I imagine. The on-table sauces were sweet and spicy. Much to like her. No, it won't replace Gordo's for us (visited most recently last Saturday), but it may well be a place we revisit.
I don't know any other Afghan/Mexican-fusion burrito shops, but we quite enjoyed our first visit to Albany's popular Hot Shop, just a smidge around the corner from Solano on San Pablo.
Lady Steed got the artichoke-lamb; I got the garlic-lime-chicken. I liked mine better, but hers was great. About what you'd suspect, I imagine. The on-table sauces were sweet and spicy. Much to like her. No, it won't replace Gordo's for us (visited most recently last Saturday), but it may well be a place we revisit.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Rendez-Vous, House of Curry, Khana Peena, iScream and Arabica (not on Solano)
Rendez-Vous Cafe: Ate here Dec 6, 2013 in honor of a good friend's 40th birthday--his treat! So very nice.
Lady Steed had the cassoulet. "It was delicious! So good!" Theric had the stake frites again, still excellent. We shared a bowl of french onion soup which was very very delicious. For dessert: Theric had the chocolate mousse and Lady Steed had the creme brulee. Both were excellent but Theric says that he liked the mousse better. Lady Steed throughly enjoyed both. THe chocolate mousse is very chocolate-y and the brulee was just right. An excellent meal! Looking forward to going back and having that onion soup again and trying something new from the menu.
House of Curry: Bought lots of dishes from here for mom's 2013 birthday. Everything was good, as usual. Lady Steed especially liked the daal dishes, which we had not tried before.
Khana Peena (Jan 3, 2014): Had a Living Social Coupon, went at lunch time, which we have got to stop doing because you can't use a living social coupon for the lunch buffet. THe lunch buffet looks very good and that's what everyone else in that restaurant was getting. Theric had Khana Peena Chicken Soup, which he said was good, but too salty. Lady Steed had Moong Dhal, a lentil soup. It was good, lots of vegetables and a little bit spicy. After our soups we enjoyed a naan stuffed with lamb (yum, but I think we will stick with garlic naan or plain naan from now on), chicken biryani (also good, the raita sauce was excellent) and another dish, which neither of us can recall, though I do remember it was something in a sauce. Overall it was a good meal but nothing too memorable. WE also each had a mango lassi, it was delicious, perhaps my favorite thing about the meal. Next time we eat here we will be going to the lunch buffet.
iScream: Went here after dinner at Arabica on Jan 4, 2014.
We paid extra for chocolate waffle cones because they are delicious and create no waste. Though they do offer regular cones at no additional cost, should probably get that next time, since ice cream here is not cheap.
Theric had mexican chocolate with salted caramel, the second time he has done this, it's still excellent. The mexican chocolate has a very pleasant spiciness to it.
Lady Steed had salted caramel and ginger. The ginger ice cream was great, very ginger-y. I knew it was all real ginger used to flavor the ice cream because it had that burn that comes with fresh ginger. I really liked it. However it did not really blend with the salted caramel very well. This is important to remember for next time.
The salted caramel is awesome. So so good. I think it is the best salted caramel ice cream I have had anywhere. iScream is one of the best ice cream places around.
Not on Solano
Arabica
We went here after seeing a movie at The California movie theatre, show your ticket and get 15% off--nice!
This place is small and it was very busy on a Saturday night around 7pm. The service was very friendly but not very attentive because they were so busy and seemed understaffed. We were lucky to get seated immediately (once we were seated there was pretty much a constant stream of people coming in hoping to get a table), but no one ever brought us a menu (Theric grabbed some from the counter behind us) and we did not get water until just before our meal showed up. Our food did arrive very quickly, which was a surprise since it was so busy in there. Despite this we can't wait to go back here because the food was so great.
We started with a meza plate: Hummus, the best I have ever had, so smooth and creamy and bright. Eggplant Mousse: delicious, I wish there had been more. Roasted Sambosik: filo dough filled with melted cheese, yum. Grilled Grape Leaves: I have had these in the past and never really liked them, but these were SO good. Savory with a good texture and the leaves were not tough. There were also four of the cutest little pita breads I have ever seen. They were small and fluffy, 'like little clouds', and soft and tasted so good dipped in the olive oil, then in a mixture of spices and seeds.
Main dishes: Theirc ordered the Arayis Pita Pizza: mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, haloumi cheese, basil pesto--so good. The haloumi cheese was especially tasty, very salty and a great contrast to the other flavors on the pizza. Lady Steed ordered the Lamb Arabica Burger on pita bread with tomato, lettuce, parsley-tahini sauce, red onions, mashed potatoes. The meat was cooked perfectly, it was so flavorful and tender too--delicious! All the other elements complimented the meat very nicely. The mashed potatoes were also very good. They were unique because they had something green mixed through them--maybe it was parsley or kale? I'm not sure what it was but it certainly made the potatoes more interesting. I definitely liked them, but I think Theric liked them more. I liked them better with the parsley-tahini sauce.
Arabica is excellent! We highly recommend it and we are looking forward to a time when we can go back.
Lady Steed had the cassoulet. "It was delicious! So good!" Theric had the stake frites again, still excellent. We shared a bowl of french onion soup which was very very delicious. For dessert: Theric had the chocolate mousse and Lady Steed had the creme brulee. Both were excellent but Theric says that he liked the mousse better. Lady Steed throughly enjoyed both. THe chocolate mousse is very chocolate-y and the brulee was just right. An excellent meal! Looking forward to going back and having that onion soup again and trying something new from the menu.
House of Curry: Bought lots of dishes from here for mom's 2013 birthday. Everything was good, as usual. Lady Steed especially liked the daal dishes, which we had not tried before.
Khana Peena (Jan 3, 2014): Had a Living Social Coupon, went at lunch time, which we have got to stop doing because you can't use a living social coupon for the lunch buffet. THe lunch buffet looks very good and that's what everyone else in that restaurant was getting. Theric had Khana Peena Chicken Soup, which he said was good, but too salty. Lady Steed had Moong Dhal, a lentil soup. It was good, lots of vegetables and a little bit spicy. After our soups we enjoyed a naan stuffed with lamb (yum, but I think we will stick with garlic naan or plain naan from now on), chicken biryani (also good, the raita sauce was excellent) and another dish, which neither of us can recall, though I do remember it was something in a sauce. Overall it was a good meal but nothing too memorable. WE also each had a mango lassi, it was delicious, perhaps my favorite thing about the meal. Next time we eat here we will be going to the lunch buffet.
iScream: Went here after dinner at Arabica on Jan 4, 2014.
We paid extra for chocolate waffle cones because they are delicious and create no waste. Though they do offer regular cones at no additional cost, should probably get that next time, since ice cream here is not cheap.
Theric had mexican chocolate with salted caramel, the second time he has done this, it's still excellent. The mexican chocolate has a very pleasant spiciness to it.
Lady Steed had salted caramel and ginger. The ginger ice cream was great, very ginger-y. I knew it was all real ginger used to flavor the ice cream because it had that burn that comes with fresh ginger. I really liked it. However it did not really blend with the salted caramel very well. This is important to remember for next time.
The salted caramel is awesome. So so good. I think it is the best salted caramel ice cream I have had anywhere. iScream is one of the best ice cream places around.
Not on Solano
Arabica
We went here after seeing a movie at The California movie theatre, show your ticket and get 15% off--nice!
This place is small and it was very busy on a Saturday night around 7pm. The service was very friendly but not very attentive because they were so busy and seemed understaffed. We were lucky to get seated immediately (once we were seated there was pretty much a constant stream of people coming in hoping to get a table), but no one ever brought us a menu (Theric grabbed some from the counter behind us) and we did not get water until just before our meal showed up. Our food did arrive very quickly, which was a surprise since it was so busy in there. Despite this we can't wait to go back here because the food was so great.
We started with a meza plate: Hummus, the best I have ever had, so smooth and creamy and bright. Eggplant Mousse: delicious, I wish there had been more. Roasted Sambosik: filo dough filled with melted cheese, yum. Grilled Grape Leaves: I have had these in the past and never really liked them, but these were SO good. Savory with a good texture and the leaves were not tough. There were also four of the cutest little pita breads I have ever seen. They were small and fluffy, 'like little clouds', and soft and tasted so good dipped in the olive oil, then in a mixture of spices and seeds.
Main dishes: Theirc ordered the Arayis Pita Pizza: mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, haloumi cheese, basil pesto--so good. The haloumi cheese was especially tasty, very salty and a great contrast to the other flavors on the pizza. Lady Steed ordered the Lamb Arabica Burger on pita bread with tomato, lettuce, parsley-tahini sauce, red onions, mashed potatoes. The meat was cooked perfectly, it was so flavorful and tender too--delicious! All the other elements complimented the meat very nicely. The mashed potatoes were also very good. They were unique because they had something green mixed through them--maybe it was parsley or kale? I'm not sure what it was but it certainly made the potatoes more interesting. I definitely liked them, but I think Theric liked them more. I liked them better with the parsley-tahini sauce.
Arabica is excellent! We highly recommend it and we are looking forward to a time when we can go back.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)