The restaurant adventures are officially over.
Deepa and I ventured to two new ones this week: Saffron Indian Bistro and La Cocina.
Saffron is an Indian restaurant, and even though I'm usually not a huge fan of eating Indian food out, I'd heard really good reviews about this one. Specifically about the lunch buffet. Buffet?! I'm there. (After a good morning cardio sesh to work up the appetite, of course!).
On the way there, I told Deepa I couldn't wait for paneer. She told me she couldn't wait for gulab jamun or rasmalai.
To our dismay, there was no paneer, no gulab jamun, and no rasmalai. Despite this initial disappointment, the food was actually quite good!
This was my first plate: naan, rice, pakodas, potatoes in a creamy sort of sauce (they called it the special, but didn't have a name for it!), rajma (kidney beans), squash mattar, yogurt masala, and raita. I really liked the squash mattar! I think it was butternut squash because it was slightly sweet. I've never had butternut squash in an Indian dish before, so that was interesting. Good interesting, not bad interesting!
There were two desserts at the buffet: rice pudding and mango pudding.
I couldn't decide which to get, so naturally, I got both! The rice pudding was typical Indian rice pudding, and the mango pudding was super smooth, slightly sweet, and had chunks of fruit in it. I think I preferred the rice pudding, though. And my sweet tooth was satisfied after consuming these bowls!
The next day, Deepa and I went to La Cocina. We decided to go for appetizers, but if I ever have the chance, I am definitely going back to this restaurant for a meal. I wish I had taken a picture of the set up, because it was so unlike that of any other restaurant. Imagine three small buildings arranged closely in a circular manner, with a patio-type area in the center of the circle. This was where the restaurant seating was located. Fortunately there were lots of trees for shade!
The menu was out of control. There were too many choices! But my eyes went straight to the dessert...of course.
So intriguing! Lavender white chocolate cheesecake?! *Swoon*
Check out the appetizers and entrees:
See what I mean about too many choices? Finally, we decided on the roasted butternut squash salad, some mini tacos, and hibiscus lemonade.
The salad was so gourmet! It was also on the sweet side, as it contained butternut squash, pomegranate, pears, walnuts, and the dressing was an apple cider reduction. While the greens helped mellow out the taste, the dressing was actually quite hard to detect. Also, I love roasted butternut squash, but after eating it cold in this salad, I think I definitely prefer it warm!
But this little guy stole the show:
Notice the size of the taco compared to that slice of lime. It was so tiny! And so cute! Not only did it win me over with its looks, but this taco was so unlike any taco I've ever had. It contained pinto beans, grilled sweet potato, red cabbage slaw, and cheese on top. It sounds so simple, but all of these flavors combined with the lime and salsa was fantastic. This is one restaurant item I'm on a mission to recreate.
Today, instead of trying a new restaurant, we went to our favorite dessert stop: Allegro Gelato. I've mentioned it before, but the gelato at Allegro is the creamiest and tastiest gelato ever. Not to mention that there is a huge variety of flavors to choose from. Today, I got cinnamon and plain yogurt. Don't hate on the plain yogurt flavor...sometimes it's a nice break from the normal ice cream sugar rush!
Lastly, I wanted to share with you my workout from today. I felt I needed a break from the high-intensity cardio I've been doing lately, so I searched for yoga on youtube. I followed this video and to my surprise (but I really shouldn't have been that surprised), I was dripping sweat by the end of it! Not only that, but I'm pretty sure I sweat exponentially more during this yoga sesh than I did on the elliptical yesterday...just sayin'.
Deepa and I ventured to two new ones this week: Saffron Indian Bistro and La Cocina.
Saffron is an Indian restaurant, and even though I'm usually not a huge fan of eating Indian food out, I'd heard really good reviews about this one. Specifically about the lunch buffet. Buffet?! I'm there. (After a good morning cardio sesh to work up the appetite, of course!).
On the way there, I told Deepa I couldn't wait for paneer. She told me she couldn't wait for gulab jamun or rasmalai.
To our dismay, there was no paneer, no gulab jamun, and no rasmalai. Despite this initial disappointment, the food was actually quite good!
This was my first plate: naan, rice, pakodas, potatoes in a creamy sort of sauce (they called it the special, but didn't have a name for it!), rajma (kidney beans), squash mattar, yogurt masala, and raita. I really liked the squash mattar! I think it was butternut squash because it was slightly sweet. I've never had butternut squash in an Indian dish before, so that was interesting. Good interesting, not bad interesting!
There were two desserts at the buffet: rice pudding and mango pudding.
I couldn't decide which to get, so naturally, I got both! The rice pudding was typical Indian rice pudding, and the mango pudding was super smooth, slightly sweet, and had chunks of fruit in it. I think I preferred the rice pudding, though. And my sweet tooth was satisfied after consuming these bowls!
The next day, Deepa and I went to La Cocina. We decided to go for appetizers, but if I ever have the chance, I am definitely going back to this restaurant for a meal. I wish I had taken a picture of the set up, because it was so unlike that of any other restaurant. Imagine three small buildings arranged closely in a circular manner, with a patio-type area in the center of the circle. This was where the restaurant seating was located. Fortunately there were lots of trees for shade!
The menu was out of control. There were too many choices! But my eyes went straight to the dessert...of course.
So intriguing! Lavender white chocolate cheesecake?! *Swoon*
Check out the appetizers and entrees:
See what I mean about too many choices? Finally, we decided on the roasted butternut squash salad, some mini tacos, and hibiscus lemonade.
The salad was so gourmet! It was also on the sweet side, as it contained butternut squash, pomegranate, pears, walnuts, and the dressing was an apple cider reduction. While the greens helped mellow out the taste, the dressing was actually quite hard to detect. Also, I love roasted butternut squash, but after eating it cold in this salad, I think I definitely prefer it warm!
But this little guy stole the show:
Notice the size of the taco compared to that slice of lime. It was so tiny! And so cute! Not only did it win me over with its looks, but this taco was so unlike any taco I've ever had. It contained pinto beans, grilled sweet potato, red cabbage slaw, and cheese on top. It sounds so simple, but all of these flavors combined with the lime and salsa was fantastic. This is one restaurant item I'm on a mission to recreate.
Today, instead of trying a new restaurant, we went to our favorite dessert stop: Allegro Gelato. I've mentioned it before, but the gelato at Allegro is the creamiest and tastiest gelato ever. Not to mention that there is a huge variety of flavors to choose from. Today, I got cinnamon and plain yogurt. Don't hate on the plain yogurt flavor...sometimes it's a nice break from the normal ice cream sugar rush!
Lastly, I wanted to share with you my workout from today. I felt I needed a break from the high-intensity cardio I've been doing lately, so I searched for yoga on youtube. I followed this video and to my surprise (but I really shouldn't have been that surprised), I was dripping sweat by the end of it! Not only that, but I'm pretty sure I sweat exponentially more during this yoga sesh than I did on the elliptical yesterday...just sayin'.
1 comment:
Great post! I love both Saffron and La Cocina (best margaritas!), but have never been to Allegro Gelato! Can't wait to try it!
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