Great Wall

I used to know a lady who said that there was only one Chinese restaurant in the world.  When you enter the door, it's a portal to that one restaurant.  Great Wall's buffet fit that description.  It was fine -- not particularly memorable.  There is a small grocery store attached, which Art (my 15 year old son) found interesting.  Not every day we see shrink-wrapped squid on a shelf...

Caravan

I had an evening alone, so I thought I'd try somewhere new.  Caravan shares an entrance with Puccini's La Dolce Vita on 4th St, which confused me a bit...  For some unknown reason, it was freezing in Caravan the night I went.  I had to leave my coat on throughout the meal...  

The waitresses were very helpful with all the clueless people trying to figure out what things were.  I opted for the Sample for One, which had quite a few choices.  I chose the following:

badenjaan pallao --   (Persian) Fried eggplant with tomato sauce, served over Basmati rice and topped with Persian yogurt sauce

dinich --  (Ethiopian) Fresh eggplant and potatoes simmered in curry

kik wat -- (Ethiopian) slow-cooked spiced lentils

yebeg wat --  (Ethiopian) Cubes of lamb simmered in spicy Wat sauce

Everything was served on a large piece of Ethiopian flat bread (which I didn't particularly care for) with some salad in the middle.  I really liked the lamb.  The other stuff was interesting.  I couldn't really tell which was which, so I'll just stick with "interesting."  :)  

I'm glad I went.  It was fun to try.  But I probably won't be back. 

Grazie! Italian Eatery

Happy New Year!  Sarah and I decided to begin our celebration at Grazie.  I wanted wine.  I like dry; Sarah likes sweet.  I can handle the Riunite Lambrusco and thought it would be plenty sweet for her.  So we ordered a bottle.  Cheers!

I love bruschetta.  After the waitress corrected (ahem, I was correct!) my pronounciation, she brought it over.  There were pieces of toasted bread, a heap of chopped tomatoes, but where was the olive oil?  I asked, and she poured some into a dish for me.  So I spooned some tomatoes and then some oil onto the toast.  I definitely make better bruschetta at home.

Sarah and I both ordered the pappardelle -- fresh pasta, roasted chicken, mushrooms, garlic cream sauce.  It reminded me of a dish I had in Siena, although there it included truffles :)  I enjoyed it. 

Horror of horrors -- they were OUT of tiramisu?  What???  On New Years Eve, they were out of the best dessert by 9 or so?  How can that be? 

So, we ventured off into the night...  Brothers?  Jakes?  Both!