after dinner sneeze

February 2015, Wednesday Dinner, Party of 4.  Oh yes, we rocked out at the Lamb Shack (that’s where it’s at).  And it was awesome.  Take a look at that menu and just start drooling.  Mmmmmmm.  And one of the best parts was that it was BYO!!  Super-awesome (we brought a few rieslings and a trusty OR pinot noir)!  How’d it taste?  You’ll see:

In traditional Zahav manner, there was a lot of delicious pickled starters.  And hummus.  I know this picture kinda-sorta-sucks, but it’s just a placeholder to remind me that Zahav has more than just their mains (as if we could ever forget).

And the main course: lamb shoulder!  It was HUGE.  Shared with the rest of the table, this sizable hunk was delicious..  Tons of luxurious, unctuous crisped fat.  Delightful chickpeas.  We (g, t, sz) devoured as much as we could and had to take some home.  I wish there were a few pickled items left to reset the palate between each cholesterol-raising bite.  Meanwhile, our one vegetarian (dz) who was served the eggplant (which, while tasty was of meager size).  I think we won …

February 2015, Thursday Lunch, Party of 2.  I also hit up The Fat Ham with a for lunch (yay!  it’s back!).  While I understand why lunch at the Fat Ham will never be permanent (not enough foot traffic!!), boy am I grateful for the few chances we are able to go; I get to taste things like this: boiled peanut hummus.  After having Zahav the night before, how could I dare eat someone else’s hummus?  Well, this, in my mind, is a completely different kind of hummus – not meant to be olivey and spiced, rather, accented with herbs and crunch peanuts.  Quite good!  (Although quite small).

Shrimp and grits was one our mains.  It was delicious, although had a lot of subtlety to it – not quite what we were expecting.  Not a lot of whiz-pow-bang, rather, perfectly done shrimp, a well-spiced hummus, good accompaniments.  Nothing smacked you in the face … but it did make you wish you could do this at home.

And the main event: the hot chicken!  Enter the whiz-pow-bang!  A scrumptiously crunchy crust, with a hot sauce that I actually thought was just-right spicy (it was a good kind of spicy – not excessive, diarrhea-causing spicey!).  The chicken was also good (as was the dressing and bread), but the real star is the fried goodness.  I almost wonder if chicken fingers would be a better presentation to delivery more crust.  Oh, and something about this dish reminds me of another dish I had as a youngster, but I couldn’t put my finger on it – one day I’ll remember …

For dessert, we ventured the mud pie.  Which came in a jar.  BOOOOOOO.  It should have been a slice of pie.  There needed to be crust – there was no crust!  It was brownie pieces, choco pudding, and whipped cream … but no crust!  AGH!  Sure, it tasted delicious – but it was no mud pie.  Giving them a D- for this one.  Sorry Sbraga.