stay in the shallow end

Monday: Lunch at Eppie’s: I ordered the Fiesta Bowl, which is their Monday special. It’s nothing fancy, just a bowl of rice, black beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, and salsa. As is typical with Eppie’s, the quality was good. I’d have liked the black beans to have more seasoning, but I can’t really think of anything else I would change about it. Actually, that’s not true. I’d like for it to not be big enough to feed a small army. I nearly put myself in a coma.

Monday: Dinner at Cafe Europa: Michael finally convinced me to go see Caribou and Fuck Buttons with him. Then Caribou cancelled. We decided to go see Fuck Buttons anyway. Before the show, we swung by Cafe Europa and I realized I hadn’t been there in months. I was excited. As expected, I ordered the Majorca, and I still maintain it’s the best sandwich in Charlottesville. I also ordered the tomato soup, simply because it had been so long, and it was just as tangy, creamy, and filling as always. I miss you, Cafe Europa. I promise I’ll make an effort to make it down to the Corner more this summer.

Tuesday: Lunch at The Box: Biggest. Disappointment. Ever. All I’ve heard is rave after rave, and I was bursting with excitement when my friends decided to come downtown to check it out with me. We ordered a starter of onion rings. These were incredible. Bar none the best onion rings I’ve ever had. They were coated in tempura and came with a ginger ketchup. After a couple of these, I was chomping at the bit for my noodles to come out. I asked the gentleman at the register to pick something out for me and add chiles to it. I got the green tea noodles, panang sauce, and a skewer of chicken. Ugh. The noodles were overcooked to the point where they just tasted like a starchy mush. The panang curry was thin and watery and just fell straight through to the bottom of the dish. I was unable to get an appreciable amount of it to stick to the noodles. Finally, as far as I could tell, the chicken was not seasoned at all. It was just plain chunks of grilled chicken on a skewer. Despite my high expectations of The Box, I never expected I would be this disappointed. I’m willing to give them one more change, though, in case I caught them on an off day.

Thursday: Aqui es Mexico: Michael and I have been anticipating this evening for a very long time. It was finally Thursday, and we were going to order the Mexican Prime Rib. Here it is:

Unfortunately, the camera angle I chose makes it look much smaller than it is. It was an enormous slab of beef. I’d estimate at least twenty ounces of pre-cooked weight. It came with what tasted like a spicy mexican barbecue sauce and a side plate of beans, rice, salad, and tortillas. The outside of the roast was encrusted with spices and whole rosemary. I made a point of cutting out wedges so I could get a piece of crust with every bite. Near the end, the pleasure turned into work, but I managed to finish the whole thing. I can’t wait to go back.

Friday: Lunch at Christian’s Pizza: For the first time ever, I ordered the Ravioli Pizza:

I’d always seen it, but I always had other things I wanted. I was indifferent today, so I thought I’d try it. Wow. With that first bite, I felt the same rush that accompanied my first visits to Christian’s. In the future, I’ll be ordering a spicy chicken and a ravioli and will be very happy and full.

Friday: Dinner at Amigo’s: No surprises, I ordered the Chili Verde. The only difference is I got it as takeout this time. The takeout portions are considerably larger than what you get in the store! Kate and I discussed how dangerous it was that we could start ordering Amigo’s in our pajamas.

Saturday: Dinner at Monsoon: I’ve only been to Monsoon a handful of times before, and all these visits were years ago. I’d forgotten why I stopped going back, and I was quickly reminded. The wait was ridiculous. I do appreciate their situation, so I’m willing to go back. I’m just going to try to make it back on a weekday. As for the food, I enjoyed it, but it was not the best Panang Chicken I’ve ever had. The biggest disappointment was asking for hot, and not really tasting any spice at all. I’m not sure if the heat never made it in, or if their scale is extremely conservative.

I’m going to go ahead and sneak in my first meal of the next week to make next week’s feature nice and neat.

Monday: Lunch at Bizou: Kate came downtown for lunch, and we crossed the mall to Eppie’s. As usual, I ordered the meatloaf, and as usual, I loved it. I’m amazed at how perfectly textured it is. The pieces all stay hold together on the plate and on my fork, but as soon as I take a bite, they melt in my mouth. If you love meatloaf, this is a must have dish. If you hate meatloaf, I’d say you should still try this dish, because you’ve probably just had bad meatloaf all along.