Birthday Dinner at 'LOLA'

Yesterday, booked a dinner reservation at the Lola restaurant in Seattle to celebrate Senthil's birthday. This was our 2nd time visiting the Lola. It is one of Chef Tom Douglas's restaurants. He defeated Masaharu Morimoto in one of the Iron Chef America episode. We have also been to his other restaurant 'Serious Pie' which is a pizzeria. Ok, enough about the Chef, lets talk about the food.

We started off with an appetizer of Pita bread with a couple of Lola spreads. 

Kopanisti~Pistachio, Mavrodaphne : This is made by mixing 80% Feta cheese and 20% blue cheese, topped with pistachio and drizzled with sweet wine reduction.

Fava Skordalia~garlic spread : This is just like hummus, but made from fava beans and not chickpea.

Unfortunately, there is no pic as we were both hungry and didn't bother to click it.

The 2nd course is the Entrée,

I had Chicken kebabs which are skewered and served over charred onions, lemon and a shot of ouzo. Ouzo is an anise- flavored drink that are consumed widely in Greece, which stimulates the appetite. These are served mostly in authentic Greek restaurants. 

The chicken simply melted in my mouth. I left my plate clean.

Senthil had Goat Kleftiko, which is like a pot pie, stuffed with carrots, leeks, cipollini onions and feta with a crust. Kleftiko is a Greek recipe for slow roasting a joint of meat with herbs until the meat is moist, succulent, tasty and falling of the bone.

He loves goat and devoured every bite of it. 

As a common dish, we had Brussels Sprouts with apple and bacon spiced with Ras al hanout. It nothing but a famous Moroccan spice blend. Ras al Hanout means 'top of the shop' and refers to the mixture of best spices the seller has to offer.

The brussels sprouts were juicy along with the apple and the spices really kick it up a notch. It was sweet, salty and spicy altogether. 

The 3rd course is the Dessert,

I had deep fried Mini Donuts with Cinnamon and Sugar along with a side of Vanilla Mascarpone Cheese and Cherry Jam. The donuts were soft and butter and the vanilla mascarpone was the best. The cherry jam was a bit sour for my taste. Btw, this was the dish that Giada De Laurentiis, the celebrity chef had For the Food network's 'The best thing I ever ate- Totally Fried' show. 

BEFORE

AFTER

Senthil had Goat Cheese Turnover with Pistachio, mint and honey. It looked kind of like our south Indian Somas. The fillings were goat cheese and lots of lemon zest, so it tasted a bit lemony. And it ended up in his not-so-favorite list. 

And to wash it all down, Senthil had Espresso-tini. It is made from stoli Vanilla, Espresso, Bailey's, Kahlua and chocolate rim. It was bitter for my taste and i am not a fan of coffee, so i let him drink it.

At the end of day, it was a great dinner. No Complaints.