Afghan Food

Haven't tried Afghan food before today, but I was pretty curious when I saw the review in NY Times.  I've been referring to this article a lot lately, since I currently live in Santa Cruz. The restaurant is called Laili and is located on Cooper St. by Trader Joe's downtown.

For appetizers, we got some sort of warm roti and chilled crunchy lime, red pepper flakes, cucumber salad spread.  It was delicious!  I definitely wanted more of the spread though.  Also, the roti was great!  Fluffy, but not too fluffy, soft, etc.  It tasted like between a naan and a tortilla.

For entree, I had an apricot chicken pomegranate flatbread.  Sounds delicious, and it was amazing!  I couldn't believe that food could taste that good.  It was basically a thin-crusted pizza, rectangle shape, but instead of tomato sauce had apricot "sauce" instead.  Also topped with basil....probably one of the most interesting dishes I've ever tasted in my life. 

Justin ordered a lamb wrap, which was pretty good too.  Not sure if I would order it cause eating lamb freaks me out a bit.  He agreed though that my dish was a lot better than his!

We will definitely be returning.  It's like we found a diamond ring in a garbage dump (haha just kidding...Santa Cruz isn't that bad actually).

Boulette's Larder

My mom got Justin a gift certificate to Boulette's Larder last year for Christmas, and we finally redeemed it today for lunch.  It's a quirky little restaurant located in the Ferry Building of SF.  When I say quirky, I mean very unique.  There's only one main dining table that seats about 12, and the rest of the restaurant is the kitchen.  There are more traditional tables outside the restaurant that are located in the hallway of the Ferry Building, very cafe like.

I started off with a pomegranate and raspberry press juice.  Pretty delicious, but wasn't carbonated like I thought it would be.

We ordered bread and butter...such a simple staple but even so, it was delicious!  I liked the bread selection they had - there was one brown bread with chopped pistachios sprinkled throughout it, an interesting take on bread.  Butter was amazing too...it was just sweeter than usual.  We wanted to take it home or buy some, but never got around to it :-/  next time though.

Next we had a squash blend soup.  I can't remember what the soup was called, and it's killing me!  Boulette's Larder changes the menu everyday, so I can't check it.  It was a really amazing soup - pureed and blended together so well.  Served at a little above room temperature, instead of boiling hot, which was interesting.  Also served with a dollop of sour cream and some kind of chip. LOVED IT.  I really wanted a rubber spatula to finish every drop of the soup, but I didn't carry one with me.  I think I may have to from now on to assist me in moments like these.  NOM NOM NOM.

Justin got pulled pork sandwiches, with ladyfinger potato fries and a sauce I can't remember the name or taste of.  It was yummy.

I got roasted duck leg...which was phenomenal, even compared to Justin's dish.  He agreed too.  The duck was tender and had great salty flavor.  It really blew my mind.  The taste was also homey - it had some kind of stew underneath it, which was great.  The squash was awesome too, along with the spinach.  I think I finished the whole thing again too. 

This place got a 25 rating on Zagat for food....and now I can finally say why!  The service was also rated very high as well, and I've got to say, the waiter really took care of us.  Justin and I were really in heaven at Boulette's Larder.  We would definitely return....this place has inconvenient hours though, which is why we never made it out until today.  Also will have to wait for our wallets to be fuller.

Eggettes

I grabbed some eggettes tonight with some friends in the outer sunset.  Eggettes are a really great snack if you happen to want a late-night snack or afternoon bite before dinner.  If you've never tried one, it has the taste of a waffle batter, but it's crispy on the outside and soft and warm on the inside, also in the shape of bubble wrap.

The original flavor is "waffle" flavor, but they also have chocolate which is also pretty yummy.  This isn't my favorite dessert, but it's great to have every once in a while!  This place also doubles as a small internet cafe.  They also have Chinese music videos that I can never understand which adds culture to this great dessert place!

Pasquale's

Justin wanted pizza for dinner, so we headed to Pasquale's on Irving Street.  This was my first time trying it for a couple years now...I haven't been there since high school, so it was nice to try it again.

We ordered some garlic bread:

It was pretty good, but it didn't have much garlic to it.  I think I'm used to garlic bread with TONS of garlic instead of just average garlic.  It was crunchy on the outside and soft in the center....the texture was great.  I'd get it again.

We also got some spaghetti and meat sauce, which I thought was the highlight of the meal.  So simple, yet really hit the spot.  How can you resist?  mmMMMmm...

We also got the House pizza, which came with pepperoni, mushroom, cheese, garlic and chicken I think.  The toppings were good, but overall the pizza wasn't too phenomenal to me.  Crust was too thin (I'm a thick crust lover) which made the crust soggy in the center of the pizza, not appealing to me.  Justin loved it though. 

I'd come back to this place, but would get pasta again or try the veal.  I think their Italian food might be better than their regular pizza.  We'll have to wait for next time though!

SF Moma

I saw an article in the December issue of Food Network (this is a great issue!  I can't stop mentioning it) that featured the special desserts offered at SF MOMA.  Their desserts are inspired by some of the exhibits at the museum, one being a Mondrian cake...

and another was a Wayne Thiebaud inspired cake!

I think Wayne Thiebaud is one of my favorite artists.  He is famous for his paintings of cakes, pastries, and yummy desserts.  I have a poster in my room at Santa Cruz of his cakes, and he had a neat exhibit at San Jose Museum of Art sometime during the summer which I really enjoyed.  His paintings are just so cute!

Going back to the cakes....they were so delicious!!!!  I was a little surprised considering it was museum food (I usually hate museum food).  The cakes were a bit high in price but so worth it.  I could really taste the chocolate borders in the Mondrian cake, and it was really dense like a pound cake.  Wayne Thiebaud cake was great too...butter played a dominant role in the frosting.  It wasn't a chocolate cake though, more like a velvet cake I guess. 

My sister got a mocha latte too.  It was so beautiful!

I would really recommend taking time out of your day to check out the museum.  They have this really neat San Francisco exhibit with different photos and paintings highlighting SF.  Not to mention a great gift shop!