Arabesque

My mother and I stopped by the very cleverly-named Arabesque in Boulder last week for a late lunch.  Arabesque is a tiny little eatery tucked into a brick building on Walnut Street. My mother has eaten there a couple times before and recommended it after we'd finished an errand downtown. 

Arabesque is apparently a family-run operation that focuses on homemade Middle Eastern staples. The restaurant is one tiny room, which is filled to capacity with tables and a small waiting area. The buzz of the kitchen is in full view of the dining area, and there's a steady stream of customers coming in and out to purchase to-go items from a display case. In other words, it's a quintessential ethnic dining experience in Boulder.

It was an unseasonably warm April day when we visited, with all the patio seats taken.  We were able to grab the last available table indoors. Although it was well into the afternoon, they were still serving breakfast foods like omelets and quiche, as well as the normal lunch dishes, which included sampler platters and shawarma.

Once seated, it took quite some time before our waiter brought us water and took our orders. After seeing the large portions on other diners' plates, I decided for just the Spinach Pie and carrot juice.  My mother ordered her usual, the Mid-East Sampler with Beef.

Another long expanse of time passed without service, and without my carrot juice. Our waiter set a large plate of something we hadn't ordered in front of us and then carried it away with a very confused look when we told him he had the wrong table.

Finally our food arrived. I had expected the "Spinach Pie" to basically be Spanikopita, but it was actually a folded dough pocket containing a Spanikopita-like spinach mixture. I enjoyed the flavor, but I was disappointed by how much dough and how little spinach filling the pie contained.  My mom's sampler dish looked delicious, containing a pita pocket, hummus, tabouli, dolmates, baba ghanouj, and beef shawarma. I took plenty of nibbles off her plate and enjoyed it all.  The hummus, which was served in a very authentic style with a drizzle of olive oil and gherkins for dipping, was my favorite item from the sampler.

Two reminders to the waitstaff later and nearly finished with my meal, I finally received my carrot juice.  Despite the excessive wait, it was really, really good, with a strong, sweet carrot flavor. 

After watching a few other customers enjoying baklava and chocolate mousse, my mother and I opted to split a Triple Chocolate Brownie. I have a hard time believing anything about that giant block of chocolate heaven was authentically Mediterranean or Middle Eastern, but it was good. The brownie was thick and dense, like a heavy cake, with rich chocolate chips and an ample drizzle of chocolate sauce on top. I was in hyperglycemic heaven.

It took yet more fumbling with the waitstaff to get our bill paid before we were out the door.  Despite the frustrations with poor service and my disappointment with the Spinach Pie, the sampler platter and brownie were outstanding. I hope the service is better at my next visit.

Casual Dining

(6 of 10)


Pros: Great place for authentic, homemade Middle Eastern food. Get dessert.
Cons: Poor service, can be cramped at peak hours


Website:
http://www.arabesqueboulder.com/

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

FINALLY.  Blueberry Muffin Larabars debuted months ago, and I haven't been able to track one down until last Friday. 

Believe me, my inability to get my hands on one of these bars was not for lack of trying.  I searched everywhere.  Only one place - my local Whole Foods -seemed to carry them, but they were constantly sold out.  I did have one close encounter there, when I witnessed a frantic-yet-elated woman grab the only remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars on the shelf, before scurrying away like a squirrel with the last acorns of the season.  I had missed my Blueberry Muffin opportunity by a few devastating seconds.

That was weeks ago, and I thought maybe it just wasn't going to happen for me.  But last week I was in the right place at the right time. It was my turn to be that frantic woman buying all the remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars at Whole Foods.

The verdict? Absolutely worth the wait. They are perfect.  The duplication of blueberry muffin taste with so few all-natural ingredients is impressive. They're more moist than most Larabars, and slightly lower in calories (only 190 instead of 200-230).  They also contain a couple ingredients not normally included in Larabars: lemon juice concentrate, which adds a slight tartness, and vanilla, which makes them taste like a home-baked good.

See my updated Larabar review and rankings.  Blueberry Muffin is now #1 of the "non-chocolate-chip" Larabar flavors.

Website:
http://www.larabar.com/

Gelazzi Gelato

My husband and I spotted Gelazzi at our local suburban strip mall, and we drove by maybe five dozen times saying "oooh hey we should try that place" before finally checking it out.  We've now made about three or four visits to the location. 

Walking into Gelazzi for the first time, I was surprised at how large the place was and how many different frozen treats were on the menu.  They offer about a million different ways to ingest gelato, including cannolis, cookie sandwiches, cakes and pies. There's ample seating for 20-30 people, plus a party room in the back.  The decor is a little over-the-top - think Greco-Roman meets the 1980s - but maybe the kids love it? 
Every time we've gone has been at what should be peak hours, and the place has a steady stream of traffic but its never terribly busy.

Another thing that sets Gelazzi apart from most ice cream or gelato stops is the vast array of alcohol-infused gelato treats on the menu.  Given the wide selection of these "gelatinis", they must be pretty popular.  However, I'm surprised many people would order them, considering their primary demographic in this deep-in-the-'burbs location is families and teenagers.

I'm not a huge fan of mixing dairy treats and booze, so I've always just stuck to the former. There's at least 20 different flavors available at any time, ranging from mango to Oreo to pistachio. The gelato is - as advertised - lighter tasting (and presumably lighter in fat and calories) than ice cream.  I actually find it slightly bland, but my husband loves it and will be very upset when he sees what I just wrote.  His favorite selection is amaretto chocolate chip gelato in a waffle cone bowl.  I've had a few different chocolatey flavors, all in plain cup form, with chocolate chip cookie dough gelato being my favorite.  The two of us usually get out of there for under $7.



Front: Amaretto Chocolate Chip in a Waffle Cone Bowl
Back: Chocolate Chip Cooke Dough



Everyday dining

(7 of 10)


Pros: Good service, any permutation of gelato goodness you can dream of can be ordered
Cons: Slightly expensive

Website: http://www.gelazzi.com/

Mizuna

After reading many appetizing Yelp reviews and seeing its very high ranking on 5280's Best Restaurants list, my husband and I were very excited to check out Mizuna near Governor's Park.

We showed up with empty stomachs at Mizuna for reservations at 6:15 pm on a Saturday.  Their location is modest from the outside, and you can tell before even walking in that the restaurant isn't very big. The dining area at Mizuna is really just one small, minimally-decorated room, filled to capacity with a dozen or so tables and a bar. 

My husband and I were seated at a small two-person table in the corner, just a couple of feet away from the neighboring table.  We were attended to very prompty by our waitress, who was very knowledgeable and attentive throughout the meal. 

We shared two appetizers: the lobster macaroni and cheese and the escargot. The lobster consisted of an entire claw plus a couple other large chunks, so big that they had to be cut with a knife before eating.  The sauce was more creamy than cheesy, but it had a nice flavor that blended well with the sweet lobster and plain pasta.



Macaroni and Cheese with Lobster


The escargot dish was very different from what I've seen at other French restaurants.  Instead of a simple presentation of only the escargot, the snails arrived in a broth with hon-shimeji (I'd never heard of them either) mushrooms and a popover on the side.  The popover was ok, maybe a little bland, and it didn't really add anything to the dish.  The mushrooms were cooked perfectly, well-seasoned, and had a nice chewy texture.  However, the escargot itself was just plain bad.  They were tough, gritty, and lacking any attempt at seasoning or flavor.  We agreed this was the worst escargot either of us have ever had. 



Escargot


After that disappointment, it was time for entrées.

I had ordered the Atlantic Monkfish, which came with "Sunchoke Purée, Oyster Mushrooms, Beef Daube, Truffle Port Reduction".  My dish was perfect.  The presentation was beautiful, it tasted delicious, and it was worth every penny.  The monkfish was perfectly cooked, with a seasoned crust on top.  I'd never had sunchoke before, but the "sunchoke puree" tasted like a very rich, creamy vein of runny mashed potatoes.  The oyster mushrooms were blended with the beef daube to make sort of a river of beef-mushroom stew down the middle of my plate.  It was the highlight of my meal. 




Monkfish


Muy husband had ordered the Pan Roasted Venison Loin, which came with "Sweet Potato Gnocchi, Wilted Brussels Sprouts, Chestnut Velouté".  It was just as well presented as my monkfish, but unfortunately missed on taste.  The sweet potato gnocchi was good, the brussel sprouts average, and the veloute was basically a wet jumble of a few nuts that I don't actually remember making their way onto any bites of food.  His venison was well cooked but way, way, way, too salty. 




Venison


For the finale, we ordered the Warm Valrhona Chocolate Cake, their "signature dessert", with macadamia nut brittle and malted ice cream.  What arrived was simply a tiny "lava cake" topped with a scoopt of ice cream and surrounded by crushed macadamia nuts. Considering I seem some incarnation of this dessert at nearly every restaurant I go to, I was disappointed by the lack of creativity.

Our bill came to about $140 for two appetizers, two entrees, dessert and a glass of red wine.  We really wanted to like Mizuna, but it just didn't deliver on quality of food. 


Fine Dining
(5 of 10)


Pros: Good service, my entree (monkfish) was outstanding
Cons: Food is completely hit-or-miss, boring decor, a little cramped inside

Pizzeria Locale: So much hype, so little crust

There's been a lot of excitement about the opening of Pizzeria Locale's modest space east of Boulder's Pearl Street Mall.  That's mostly because it shares owners with the fancy Frasca Food and Wine, just down the street, and because of their famously painstaking effort to duplicate a true Neapolitan pizza (see Denver Post article for more details). 

My husband, my mother and myself stopped in for lunch this past Saturday.  At 12:15, they were busy enough that there were no tables available, but we were able to grab seats at the pizza bar.  Yes, the pizza bar - think a sushi bar but with pizza, centered around their fancy wood-fired oven.

The owners certainly channeled a southern European feel in their restaurant, but that may just be because everything is so small.  The space itself is small, the tables are small, the water glasses are small (with no ice, of course). 

Service was very good.  The waiter suggested that pies were "personal" sized, but we opted to split two - the Diavola and the Quattro Formaggi - between the three of us. 

The Diavola came with marina sauce, a very light spread of mozzarella cheese, basil leaves, and a spicy salami.  The Quattro Formaggi was, as expected, much heavier on the cheese, containing mozzarella, Parmesan, ovin sardo, and fontina.  While not health food, this pizza really isn't the calorie bomb most of us are used to.  If you're expecting something like an Uno Chicago Deep Dish Pizza to come out of the oven, you may not recognize what's on your plate.

I'm no Neapolitan pizza connoisseur, but the authenticity of their pies seems legit.  The crust is light, delicate and chewy.  In fact, it becomes so flimsy in the center that you probably want to eat your slice with a fork and knife.  Cheeses, sauces, and toppings were very flavorful and fresh, despite their long trek from Italy to our table. Splitting the two pizzas between the three of us was the perfect amount of food.

We finished off dinner with a biscotti, which was pleasantly soft and not too sweet. 

Overall, this pizza was decent but not too remarkable. However, for the totally reasonable prices - $9-$18 per pizza - it's certainly worth a visit.

Casual Dining
(7 of 10)

Pros:

Good service, high quality ingredients

Cons:

Good luck getting a table, but there are a dozen more restaurants nearby with a similar concept and menu

Website:

http://www.pizzerialocale.com/