Many months ago word began to spread amongst my girlfriends of a tiny tapas place in Riverside that had really good food and only 7 tables. We all agreed we needed to check it out but found scheduling conflicts perpetually detaining us.
Finally last week I put the word out that Tuesday night would be girls's night out and who was in. Five of the coolest chicks in the city responded that it was a go. And so I made our reservation at 13 Gypsies off Stockton in Riverside.
13 Gypsies is a peasant kitchen specializing in Meditarrean food. The menu features salads, sandwiches and tapas. They also offer really interesting wines.
A tiny bistro with old world decor, I felt like I was invited into a cozy club in someone's home. We all settled in and perused the menu. With half of our group in various stages of pregnancy it fell to myself and another gal to check out the wine list.
After looking at the intriguing tapas options I proposed letting Chef make the decision for us. Everyone was onboard and we advised the server that we would very much appreciate it if Chef would select his six favorite dishes for our dinner that evening.
I had studied the website for this place and read Chef's blog prior to ever coming in. For some odd reason I had it in my head that he was one of those egocentric, cocky chefs that thinks his food is the most amazing thing ever created and most diners are stupid. Well as it turns out he seemed really interested in sending us amazing, thoughtful food and downright shy.
He started us out with the warm artichoke heart salad, a field of greens with poached chick peas in a spicy dressing. He also sent out the risotto of the day. This was a pancetta and parmesan dream. I've never enjoyed risotto this good. The arborio rice was perfectly al dente and creamy perfect. It was the hands down favorite of the table. We also had the garlic honey hummus. This was a smooth homemade hummus with a swirl of not overly sweet honey over it. It was also delicious. The bruschetta for the day was completely non-traditional. It was a white bean and pork puree served with crostini. Really tasty combination. The final two dishes were the coconut curry mango chicken and shrimp piri piri. The curry was a mildly spicy sauce with chunks of chicken and raisins. Finally, the shrimp were in a spicy portuguese ginger-lemon sauce. These were absolutely delicious.
What was so endearing is I could see Chef come into the dining room and talk to his usual diners, friends and servers. He seemed to be observing our table of boisterous girl eaters to ensure we were enjoying it. Every dish he sent out was thoughtfully presented with enough for everyone to have a fair share. We didn't disappoint and every dish went back cleaned off.
We were given the option for dessert and selected all of it, naturally! There was flan, bread pudding and tres leches cake. Now I've seen tres leches cake and maybe even tasted it somewhere. I'm telling you now that nothing compares to 13 G's tres leches cake. It is creamy, moist and delicious. We actually ordered a second one for the table because we couldn't quite get enough.
It was great fun to be out at the coolest, tiniest and maybe most unique dining establishments in the city. I was with girls I count myself fortunate to know. We talked about ambition, work, travel and love of great food. Opportunities like this don't come around often. Women lead lives of constant motion. Women work, support families emotionally and financially, and dream of things that will be accomplished. My girlfriends are smart, sexy, professionals and getting together with them at a place like 13 G's makes my life much richer for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment