jason z.'s Profile

Cafe Aurora
http://cafeaurorausa.c...

Cafe Aurora, just outside Washington DC in Alexandria, Virginia, was my first experience with Eritrean food and I will forever be grateful.

I had the: FUUL (an AURORA SPECIAL made from fava beans and served with fresh tomatoes, green peppers, onions, feta cheese and yogurt, flavored butter or olive oil, and french bread) and KITCHA FITFIT  (a traditional, homemade flat bread, mixed and marinated with flavored butter and red peppers served with yogurt on the side).  I want both again soon.  Next time I'd like to try the EGG SILSI as well (eggs, in tomato sauce with onions, green peppers and French or pita bread).

Owner, Dahab Beyene and her husband were kind enough to offer me the Flaxseed drink before I left.  An organic mix of flaxseed, soy milk and honey blended with ice that comes out something like a flaxseed milkshake with a taste that reminded me of hazelnut and peanut butter.  Delicious.

This review is ONLY for the Scrambled Egg & Summer Black Truffle brunch I had so eagerly anticipated.

You had me at "...we will shave them (truffles) over scrambled eggs in the morning"

You lost me when I ordered and realized it's just 2 or 3 scrambled eggs with an extremely skimpy portion of shaved truffles, no sides, for $24.

And that's the BLACK truffle version.  The WHITE Truffle eggs will set you back $84.

I am however looking forward to going back for dinner as I hear it is quite impressive.

http://jasonzfood.blog...

Located in San Francisco's Chinatown, City View serves some of the best Dim Sum I've had in a long time and it's still served table side from push carts unlike many modern Dim Sum restaurants.

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Rose's is the local cafe at it's best. Quaint, friendly and warm. Great food, great coffee. A great place for breakfast or lunch with friends. My friend Elwood raved about the breakfast pizza, and though it wasn't served during lunch when I arrived, the maitre d' was quick to suggest a work around by ordering the Margherita pizza and adding a few items to make more or less the same thing. It was delicious. My party also shared the Grilled Chicken-Tarragon Sausage, Organic Poached Eggs, Polenta & Spicy Tomato Sauce dish. Another winner.

I want to try their other restaurants - Rose Pistola and Terzo - next time I'm in town

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Anyone who knows me, knows I like milkshakes, a lot.  So, when I heard about a place called "Millions of Milkshakes" you can bet I was excited.  Millions of Milkshakes, or as I like to call it, The Overpriced Soft-Serve Shop, does not serve what can honestly be called a milkshake.   Three types of frozen vanilla (soft serve, yogurt or soy) substitute for actual ice cream in these "shakes" and at $5 for a one topping regular ($6 for a large) and another $1 for each additional topping, a small 4 combo frosty is going to run you close to 10 bucks.  Ten bucks for soft serve and some candy.  What a bargain.  

If the name itself weren't deceiving, I wouldn't have as much of a problem with the place.  If, for example, it was called, "Millions of toppings for your vanilla soft serve" my expectations would have been properly managed, though I imagine that name wouldn't have suckers like me driving to West Hollywood to try it.

Do yourself a favor, go to McDonalds, get a McFlurry and save the other 8 dollars for some real ice cream.  Or better yet, go to MILK on Beverly (http://www.themilkshop...) and get an actual milkshake.

I had been looking forward to trying the churros at Xooro since reading about it online and visiting their website a few weeks ago.  I mean, "the United States' first restaurant specializing in gourmet Spanish churros" and they also have 6 different gourmet hot chocolates?  Come on, let's go already.  I had hyped the place to two friends at work and we all went after lunch today.  First of all, there are 3 kinds of $4 hot chocolate on the menu at Xooro, not the 6 different gourmet versions described on the website (http://www.xooro.com).  The one I tried was so sweet I couldn't finish it.  Onto their specialty; "gourmet churros" - if a cold, stale, five dollar, 4 inch fritter with room temperature artificial flavoring spells gourmet in Spain, the only spanish I need to know is "no gracias".    We tried three of the selections on the menu and none of them were impressive, fresh or remotely warm.   I have no idea how a place that only serves questionable hot chocolate and overpriced, subpar churros is going to stay open very long.  I only wish I'd read the reviews on Yelp before I went so I could have nine bucks and 30 minutes of my life back.