PALM SPRINGS/LA DAY 2

Our second meal in Palm Springs took place the next morning for breakfast. After surfing Opentable, I had learned that there was a Norma's located inside the Parker Meridien in Palm Springs. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Norma's is famous for it's breakfast. Though I never visited the location in NY, they became widely known recently due to it's offering of a $1,000 omelet (it's got a lot of Beluga caviar on it). Though the prices are sky high, I figured it'd be fun to try it out, so I made the reservation.

When we arrived at the Parker in Palm Springs, we found a hotel that could be best described as retro chic. It was clearly an old hotel, that they had repainted and filled with all sorts of retro furniture and details. Not exactly the right fit for my parents, but it was different. We tried to find the restaurant, but there was no sign, just a open door that lead to an area with tables. I figured it was Norma's, since it was the only dining area in sight.

It turned out to be the right place, and we were seated quickly (by a gentleman wearing far more make up than needed). Here are our table settings - you can see how the retro chic look continues throughout.

Ok, here's a link to the menu, so you can check out the offerings and prices. Given that the prices begin at $15 and go up from there, you'd kinda expect this to be the most amazing breakfast that you were ever going to have. Tom and I did like the fact that they served as French press coffee, which was pretty good. For my breakfast, I ordered "flat as a pancake" crabcakes. Here they are below.

I'd say they were pretty good. Certainly not the best crab cakes that'd I'd ever had, but I liked the fact that my side dip was served in a hollowed out fried onion. We also decided to get an order of fresh donuts to share.

Unfortunately they weren't that great. The frying temperature had been far too low, allowing the batter to absorb a lot of oil, so they had that oil tasty and weren't as light and crunchy. Additionally, they had coated it with way too much sugar and cinnamon.

The good thing was that parents seemed to enjoy their breakfast. Tom and I agreed that though it was pretty good, it certainly wasn't worth the high price tag, and our favorite thing overall was the coffee.

After breakfast, it was time to visit one of the may spas in the area, and then it was back to LA for dinner with friends. When I found out I'd be going back to LA, I asked Katie to pick a restaurant and make a reservation so we could all go out to dinner. And though she rarely makes reservations so far in advance, she made an exception for me and made reservations at Akasha, near hear home in Culver City.

When we entered the restaurant, we found a sprawling space with high ceilings and a dark, industrial/modern interior. The entrance is a tad strange because the front part acts as take out cafe during the day, and you actually have to walk around to the side of that to reach the sprawling dining room. We were seated right away and given menus. Now, I don't know why I thought this (perhaps due to its name, or because I looked at the menu online too quickly), but initially, I thought the restaurant was more like a modern Indian place. However, I was wrong, and I would agree with Katie's assessment that it's "organic." Ok, I realize that doesn't actually describe a type of food, but the menu is kinda wide ranging, though does feature a lot of organic, vegetarian or vegan options.

I started off with a grilled artichoke.

I'm such a sucker for artichokes, they're truly one of my favorite foods. And though I don't think they're really in season right now, if I can get someone else to prepare them, I'll happily order it. This one was quite good. I liked the fact that it was grilled and not overcooked.

But it did kinda fill me up, so I wasn't super hungry when my entree arrived - a pizza with chicken sausage and red peppers.

I did enjoy the pizza, though I let Tom finish it off. Overall, I found the dining experience at Akasha pretty enjoyable. The prices are reasonable and though I wouldn't count it as a place I'd go for a casual bite, it's certainly somewhere to take friends who are in the area. Mostly, I liked hanging out with my friends from LA, and only wish I could see them more often.

ITALIAN IN LA

We were down in LA to attend Katie and Dustin's wedding a few weeks ago, and that also allowed us to spend a couple days hanging out with my family. I wanted to try out some of the new restaurants in LA, but my mom made reservations at an Italian restaurant that she had visited previously called La Botte. Hidden on a corner in Santa Monica, it's full of dark woods, and dark leather. When we entered, the restaurant was almost empty (we had an early reservations so my little sis and her boyfriend could drive back down in SD later that evening.)

The servers were really friendly, though, and unlike many places where servers will pretend like they can speak Italian, many of the servers actually were Italian. So were ordered a bunch of small plates to share, and my favorite one is below - a duck prosciutto.

It was pretty light and not too salty, so I like it quite a bit. Most people at dinner ordered just one course (a pasta course) for dinner, but I was hungry, so I ordered two courses. (God, is it any wonder that I've gained so much weight since leaving Boston?) At any rate, here's my crab and squid ink linguini. I found this dish to be allright - it was pretty basic and as I often say, I could have made it very easily at home.

Meanwhile, I also ordered a dish or roasted duck, which I liked a much more. The duck was well cooked and had very crispy skin.

I think our meal was actually pretty good. I think it's hard for me to judge restaurants when I don't pay for the meal, because that whole value thing goes out the window. But the bottom line is that my family had a good time eating there, the service was very friendly and I wouldn't mind going back.

CITY BAKERY, LA

Many of you may have visited the original City Bakery in NY, but did you know that there's also a City Bakery in LA? I knew it existed, but had not yet visited, so early on a Monday morning, we headed over to the Brentwood Country Mart where City Bakery is located.

The space that City Bakery is located in used to be a supermarket, so it's quite a large space, but it's set up quite differently from the NY location (which I just went to last week). Unlike NY, the LA City Bakery actually has counter service, so you can order food and have it made for you - totally unlike the cafeteria only service in NY. I'm not sure if this is because the cafeteria only thing didn't work in LA, or if they had always planned to have counter service. Anyway, here's the one of the interior shots of the place. What's funny is that the cafeteria part of it isn't very large at all - the entire right half of the picture is actually like a little gourmet market place where you can buy different ingredients and foods.

They had just brought out the mac and cheese, so of course he had to get some, and I must say, it was excellent. Buttery, cheesy and with crunchy bits, I enjoyed it quite a lot.

And here's a pic of the bakery case, with their famous giant morning buns right in front. I actually wasn't that hungry, and other than the few bites of mac and cheese, I had a coffee.

Overall, this location of City Bakery is a little unusual, but early in the morning, it was a great place for a casual breakfast. I'm sure it gets packed in the afternoons, and they don't have a ton of seats, but I wouldn't mind going back in the future for some more of that delicious mac and cheese.

PATRICK'S ROADHOUSE, LA

A couple weeks ago Tom and I were watching TV, and he saw a burger restaurant that served a burger with caviar and sour cream on it. As we watched the show, I realized that I recognized the place - it's located right on PCH, less than 10 minutes from my parents' house, and even though I'd never actually been there before, I promised him we would go the next time we were visiting my parents.

Well, a few weeks ago, we were down in LA visiting my parents, and took the opportunity to meet Katie and Dustin for burgers at Patrick's Roadhouse. Though we had all driven by the place hundreds of times, none of us had ever gone. Parking isn't very easy to find in the area, but we lucked out and found a spot right out front. When we entered the place, it was actually pretty busy inside. The front room is filled with a bar, but in back was a narrow space, decorated with funky decor, a small dining room and a view right out onto PCH. We were seated right away. Here's a shot of the interior.

After Katie and Dustin arrived, we did our ordering. I actually wasn't very hungry, so I ordered a pretty simple turkey burger. Here it is below.

My turkey burger was pretty well prepared, and actually tasted like turkey. Still, I prefer my well charred burger from Al's Big Burger more. But here's the reason we went, Tom's Rockefeller burger.

You can see the mound of caviar and sour cream on the burger, but there wasn't a price on the menu (just a little note that said if you need to know, you can't afford it, but it was only $15). Tom actually thought his burger was pretty good. (I enjoyed the fries most of all).

I thought Patrick's Roadhouse was a really good burger joint. The prices were pretty reasonable and they had a lot of choices (including a veggie burger for Katie). I don't know if we'll be back, just due to the tough parking situation, but if you're ever visiting the beach, it's a great place to stop for a quick bite.

OSTERIA MOZZA

Ok, I know this post is a little out of order, but I had already uploaded all my photos and now it's too late to go back and change it. Oh, and no pics for this post, it was a bit darker inside and I didn't want to disturb the other diners. So I actually ate at Osteria Mozza when I went back to LA for my dad's 60th bday. I was really looking foward to this meal. You may remember last year during a trip back to LA, my struggle of obtaining a reservation at Pizzeria Mozza and how I had enjoyed my dinner there. (though I still really don't consider it pizza, it really is a totally different entity). This time, it wasn't as hard to get a reservation. Osteria Mozza is still one of the most popular restaurants in LA right now, and it's still hard to get a table, but I made my reservation exactly 3o days in advance, and their reservation system has improved dramatically- I wasn't on hold for 8 hours before I got through.

I'm a big fan of Batali restaurants, but I was also looking foward to this meal because I was actually having a dinner with my friends. I've been back to LA like 4 times since moving back to the West Coast, but each time I go back, it's just for a few days, and that doesn't leave much time for friends. I normally just grab a quick coffee or have a short visit with Katie and the kitties. For this dinner, I had invited my friends, Katie, Dustin, Raj and Naina. Katie had already been before and had raved about her meal there, so I had high expectations.

When we arrived at Osteria Mozza, we found a much bigger restaurant than I had expected (the pizzeria right next door is about half the size of Osteria Mozza). Our friends Raj and Naina were running a bit late, so Katie and Dustin grabbed a drink at the rear bar while we waited for them to arrive. The restaurant has a very sleek design- all black, grey and lots of white tile. There's also a bar in the middle of the restaurant- the mozzarella bar, where you can also sit and enjoy a meal. When our friends arrived, we were seated at our table and to start off, we were each served a piece of toast with fresh goat cheese, basil and olive. Now I'm not normally a fan of goat cheese. I don't enjoy the tanginess. But Katie had already told me about the amazingness of the cheese here, and she was right. That goat cheese was delicious, so creamy and smooth, with out a hint of tanginess. I really enjoyed it.

Now, almost everyone at our dinner was a vegetarian, so no one was really eating meat. While I was looking at the menu, I had a tough internal debate. I didn't know if I wanted to order a secondi-a meat course, or if I wanted pasta. Now, I already know that I love pasta at Batali restaurants, so after debating a bit more, I finally settle on ordering a pasta. I wouldn't regret my decision. (there was pasta tasting menu, but it was 6 courses, so I decided I'd wait until Tom was with me).

Meanwhile, the two couples at the table decided that they were starting with a course from the mozzarella bar. I've forgotten to mention that the mozzarella bar is what Osteria Mozza is famous for- the fabulous homemade cheese. I stuck with a salad Oro blanco Grapefruit, Avocado, Noci with watercress. It was side, well made and delicious. Everyone else enjoyed their cheese course, and Dustin kept exclaiming in surprise that he's never had anything like it before.

Next up, we had all ordered pasta courses. I got something pretty simple- Butternut Squash Mezzalune with amaretti, and it was DELICIOUS. The pasta that enveloped the butternut squash was so thin and delicate and the amaretti just gave it some light sweetness and crunch. I loved my pasta. I also got to try a bit of Katie pasta, which I was a bit skeptical about. It was a goat cheese ravioli, but again, the pasta was so thin and light, and that cheese really was just great. I would certainly consider ordering it next time.

And to finish off, we each got a dessert. I got the gelato. After having the wonderful gelato last time at Pizzeria Mozza, I wasn't about to pass it up, and I didn't regret it. It was just as good as last time. Overall, we had a great dinner. Service was pleasant and unintrusive and even better, the food was just great. I really wish Tom had been there, but next time we go to LA, I'll certainly be taking him.

JAPANESE FOOD IN LA, THE REASON WHY I GO BACK HOME

I'd just like to say Hello to my Tom. As you all know, he's off in Boston right now, so I'm sitting on my couch with kitty curled up and snoring on her spot and watching "No Reservations." Just wanted you to know that they're doing a show in NJ and Tony Bourdain just ate a fried hot dog. It made me think of you.

And for the rest of you, I will continue on my post about Hayama. Now, I've lived in a lot of places, but I haven't found as good Japanese food as I do at home in LA. The thing is, you really never know how good you have it until you go away and find out, hey, Japanese food isn't like this everywhere. And yes, I've lived in NY and yes, you can probably get amazing Japanese food in NY- if you can afford it. But in LA, you can get cheap, affordable Japanese food, and it'll be amazing and tasty. Which is why I really don't eat much Japanese food elsewhere, but when I'm back home in LA, I need to have Japanese food at least once, if not twice, a day.

I was having lunch with my parents and my mom chose a restaurant called Hayama. It's actually pretty new, taking the spot of another Japanese restaurant that I'd never gone to. But they have this lovely outdoor garden area with an enormous fire pit that you can sit around. You can imagine how popular this place would be at night.

Despite it being a lovely, sunny LA afternoon, my parents wanted to sit inside. (ok, it was actually a pretty hot day. I ended up buy a tshirt and changing into it right after lunch) But we got a table right next to a big window overlooking that outdoor garden. The menu is pretty simple, but for lunch, you gotta go for one of their $15 bento boxes- an amazing deal. First, you start off with this little salad.

But then, here's the great part. Look at the size of my bento box! And it's pretty, too. I got chicken teriyaki, tempura, some little salad things an a little bowl of almond jelly. It was delicious, and all this for just $15. Sigh, if only this place were up North, I'd probably be there like once a week.

And really, that's why I go home. It's not to see my family, it's to get my fix of Japanese food. And yeah, I'm pretty happy that I live close enough to LA that I can go pretty often and get some yummy food.

BACK TO LA, MY DAD'S 60TH BDAY

Well, I'm looking back on my pics and I'm realizing, Wow, I haven't blogged in a long time. I have a whole back log of posts to write about. So while Tom's off in Boston, I figured a get a little caught up. About a month ago, I went back to LA to help celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. I had booked a later flight in the day, but when my mom called to say that if I was landing earlier, we could have Chinese foods in Monterey Park, which is what my father really wanted, I changed my flight to land earlier in the day.

But somehow, we ended up going to have Italian food in Melrose anyway. My little sister picked the restaurant, Osteria La Buca. She had had dinner there a few weeks earlier and enjoyed the pasta. It took us much longer to get there than expected, almost an hour due to the traffic (plus my older sister who I was riding with had gotten last and headed south rather than east at some point). When we finally arrived, I realized that we were in the not so great part of Melrose. It wasn't the loveliest neighborhood (later when we left, I realized how close we were to K-town), but the restaurant we walked up to was very pretty, with big glass windows going from floor to ceiling.

When we finally got there, our entire party had arrived. I think there were 10 of altogether (including cousins and Cathy's boyfriend). The seated up in this nice second floor space, which was open air and overlooked the rest of the restaurant. And there was a fire place up there. Here's a pic of it.

After perusing the menu, I decided to start with a salad and follow with one of their specials of the day, a duck dish. Meanwhile, almost everyone else at the table ordered a pasta dish (except for my older sister, who also ordered a salad and a pasta).

We all started off with some shared appetizers- duck prosciutto and some pizzas. They were pretty good. Unfortunately, the waitstaff wasn't very helpful, and the timing of the meal was off. After serving our appetizers, my older sister and I should've gotten our salad. But instead, they served everyone's pasta first and we waited around getting our salad next. Also, the salad were a primi size- meant more as an appetizer or side. They waitstaff really should have let the entire table know this, because it ended up not being enough food (at least for my dad).

Here's my arugula salad with parmesean below. It was pretty good, and was a nice large salad.

Meanwhile, everyone else had finished their entrees, and my older sister and I still hadn't received ours. When they finally arrived (and there was a lag in time), everyone else sat around while we ate our entrees. See, thats one thing that I like about great restaurants- how toheydeal with the timing of the meal. This was not well timed. As for my entree, the minute it hit the table, I knew it wouldn't be good, because the duck had clearly sat under a heat lamp for a while. The edges of the meat were dried and a bit shriveled and the color of the meat was bordering on well done. (come to think of it, they didn't even ask me how I wanted my duck cooked). But I was hungry, so I chewed away at the meat.

We finished with two large platters of dessert. These actually weren't too bad. And they decorated with some nice plump vanilla beans, which I promptly removed to use later at home.

Overall, this wasn't my favorite restaurant, but perhaps that was my fault. I really should've ordered one of the pastas, which is what they're known for. And everyone else did seem to enjoy their dishes. However, I don't plan on going back any time soon. Meals in LA should be like the one I had the follow night at Osteria Mozza.

A QUICK TRIP HOME

One of the great things about living in the Bay Area is being able to take quick trips back home to LA. This is especially easy when Virgin America is running two for one deals on tickets. So to take advantage of the deal, we went down to LA last week so I could see my dentist. (I'm not joking. It was a long overdue appointment and my mommy paid for it).

The other nice thing is that I can get together with my family for a big family dinner every time I go down. (I think we had a total of 9 people this time). I wanted to have something that we normally don't have much of up here, which would be Japanese food and sushi, but I didn't want to take Tom back to Sushi King, since he'd already been there once before. So we chose to go to Yabu, a place famous for its house made soba and udon, but they also serve sushi and lots of other dishes.

Since we'd had a late lunch, I wasn't very hungry when we arrived at Yabu (we'd had lunch at the restaurant inside of Neiman Marcus, and then I did a little shopping at Barney's). So I just ordered a number of small plates. I started off with a an ordered of deep fried shisito peppers.

If you've ever had Spanish pimientos del padron, therse are very similar. But I didn't like the ones at Yabu. They were quite greasy and didn't have a clean, crispy flavor. Next my family ordered some dishes of oden- bascially a selection of fishcakes and veggies cooked in a fish broth.

It was actually pretty good, but I didn't fill up, because I was waiting for my chawan mushi to arrive.

A chawan mushi is basically an egg custard with flavored broth and different pieces of shrimp, fish and veggies in side. It warm and soft and one of my favorite things. I enjoyed it quite a lot. In the meantime, here's Tom's order of cold soba. He'd gotten a soba/sushi combination and I think he enjoyed both of them.

Overally, Yabu is just a really cute local Japanese restaurant with well prepared food. I really wish we had something like it up here- Tom and I would probably be visiting it all the time. But at least it's just a quick trip back home for great Japanese food.

DIM SUM: WHAT CHINESE PEOPLE DO ON XMAS

It's starting to become a Xmas tradition for us to go to dim sum on Xmas morning- no matter where we are. Last year it was dim sum at the Pearl. This year, it was dim sum with my extended family in Monterey Park. I guess it's because there are so few places that are actually open and have good food, so people in the know flock to the open dim sum restaurants.

When I was a kid, I actually hated going to the dim sum restaurants in Monterey Park. Back then, there weren't any dim sum restaurants on the westside where we lived, so my parents would wake us up super early on Sunday (the only day we actually had the option to sleep in since we had Chinese school on Saturdays) and would haul our asses over to Monterey Park, which is East of LA. Ummm, maybe this is where you start seeing where I get my obsessiveness for food.

One place we often visited was NBC Seafood, which is where we headed on Xmas morning. When we arrived, we found out that NBC was under construction. It was still open and serving food, but there was very little parking, and a whole lot of people were trying to get in. We had 15 people, so we ended up splitting up into 2 tables. This place was sooooooooo busy. They were turning tables like crazy and they weren't very nice about it. But at least we got our fill or yummy dim sum dishes like:

Baked pork buns, chicken buns and fried sesame mochi

Spare ribs and flat rice noodles stuffed with shrimp or fried dough
This strange concoction of shrimp balls and corn- it was allright.
Panfried flat noodles with dried shrimp and green onions served with peanut sauce. The noodles themselves were rather tasteless, so you had to add the sauce to give it flavor.

These greasy, but super tasty cause they were just fried, shrimp dumplings.

And of course, the regular shrimp dumplings (Tom's learned how to call them by their correct name- har gow, and I made him show my mom), siu mai and some Chinese broccoli.

We spent over two hours there, and by the time we finished and left, there were even more people waiting to get it. I guess it is worth arriving early after all. But we had a great meal and I certainly look foward to getting more dim sum in LA next Xmas.

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER AT BIZOU GARDEN

On Christmas Eve, we had planned on going to Korean BBQ. But at the last minute, my mom decided to make the reservation for the previous night (she was busy Christmas eve) which left us scrambling for a place to have dinner on Christmas Eve. Us being 9 cousins, sisters and boyfriends and my dad. My little sister suggested that we go to a restaurant called Bizou Garden featuring California/French/Italian inspired food and since they actually took our reservation for 10, we settled on that.

The thing with Bizou Garden is that it's not normally I'd pick to have dinner at. It's a nicely appointed restaurant and a comfortable place to go, but their prices don't justify the quality of the food. As you guys know, I'm willing to pay quite a lot, if it's worth it. Plus, it seems to be confused as to what type of cuisine it should be serving.

After perusing the menu, I settled on ordering an ahi tuna steak. What was surprising was that all the entrees came with a soup or salad. So few restaurants do that these days- they normally just make you pay extra. And I must say, I didn't enjoy the salad that was served and finished it quickly.

My tuna, on the other hand, was a sadder story. I'm not one of those people who enjoy eating tuna totally raw, so I had ordered mine medium. When it arrived you could tell it'd be seared on the exterior, but the interior was completely raw. So I sent it back.

,

Of course, you know what happens. It came back completely cooked through. Like it could've been canned tuna at that point. Plus, the sauce it was served it was soooooooo salty. I ate some of it and enjoyed my super buttery potatoes.

Tom didn't have much better luck with his entree. It was kinda like a cioppino, except it wasn't served as a soup.

As you can see, they put all the seafood and all the sauce into one foil packet and cooked the entire thing together. The problem is that different seafood cooks at different rates, so some of the seafood came out totally overcooked (like the shrimp). Had they cooked things separately, it probably would've turned out better.

Lastly, there was dessert. They did have my favorite dessert on the menu- tarte tatin, so of course I had to order that. My little sister correctly predicted that I'd also mention that I make a fantastic tarte tatin- but it's true. I'm good at so few things in life, at least I can do that. So here's my tarte tatin below. It wasn't too bad. Kinda sweet, but I enjoyed it. Meanwhile, Tom ordered the tiramisu, which basically look like it had melted.

Again, it wasn't too bad, but I preferred eating my tarte tatin. And maybe had I tried some of the entrees that my family ordered- like pork chops and lamb (not that I eat those things) I might have enjoyed the food more. Overall, it's not so much the food that matters, but the chance to hang out with my family on a more regular basis that's important to me.

A QUICK TRIP TO LA LA LAND

Last week Tom and I made a quick trip down to LA so we could pick up all the boxes that we had shipped back to my parents' house. Of course for me, any opportunity to go back to LA is an opportunity to fill my bell and make me happy.

Since we landed in the morning, our first stop of the day was breakfast. We decided to go to the Literati Cafe, which is close to my parents' office. I'm pretty sure I've written about the cafe here before, since I seem to make a trip there every time I'm back at home, but food there remind me just why I love being back in CA.

Here's my breakfast sandwich and it's extra special for two reasons:

As you can see, it's got avocado. AND I got have it with turkey bacon. It was yummy and fresh and very filling. I enjoyed in immensely. Meanwhile, Tom ordered this massive breakfast quesadilla.

He also enjoyed it, and amazingly enough, actually finished off the whole thing (which he would regret doing 15 minutes later). Sigh.

After breakfast, we went to my favorite local farmer's market. We didn't stay too long though, because as you all know, there were some wildfires last week and it wasn't too pleasant staying outdoors. Also, it was over 95F, so we ended up going home and resting.

For dinner that evening, we met my parents and the rest of the family at Nanbankan, a local Japanese restaurant that specializes in roboto grilling. We got pretty lost getting there, since the traffic was quite heavy, and the exterior of the restaurant was under construction, so we couldn't find it. By the time we made our way there, my om had already ordered for everyone, which was totally fine with me.

They start you off with some raw veggies that you dip into a homemade miso dressing, which is quite good.

And here's a list of a few of the dishes we had. All were quite good and I really enjoyed eating there. Here's a chicken meatball:

Here's some chicken thigh meat:
These are grilled rice balls. The ones in back are a house specialty and have seaweed and seasonings mixed in.
Chicken wings (my favorite)
Chicken skin:
I'm not quite sure what this is, but it is a part of a chicken:
Chicken gizzards (another one of my favorites)
Mini zucchinis:
Shishamo (aka smelt)- This was Tom's favorite dish of the night.
Agedashi tofu:

Like I said, everything was super tasty and we were all stuffed when we left the restaurant.

After dinner, we went to Katie and Dustin's house, so Tom could meet their new kitty. My friend Raj, and his wife, Naina, were also there watching Game 1 of the World Series. (of course, by now you all know that my team won. Go Sox!). By the end of the fifth inning, the Sox were up 13-1, so we thought it was a good time to get some gelato.

A new place had opened just a few block from Katie's house in downtown Culver City, so we walked over there. It was pretty packed when we arrived, but they were quite obliging in putting a couple tables together for us so we could sit down. Here's a pic of the gelato case.As you can see, they were running low on just about everything. It'd been a warm day, so they unexpectedly sold out of almost every flavor.

I ended up ordering strawberry and pink lemon.
The strawberry was pretty good, though not my favorite. I preferred the pink lemon, but I enjoyed both and if I had a gelato place like this near me, I would certainly be going more often.

This place was more of a restaurant, though, and they served other desserts. Both Tom and Katie ordered the tiramisu, served in this little chocolate cupThe tiramisu was surprisingly good- not all mascarpone like many tiramisus tend to be. The chocolate cup, however, wasn't very yummy, though Tom still managed to finish his off.

It was getting late and we had a long drive back to the Bay Area the next day. So after we finished off dessert, we said good bye to my friends and headed home.