The Princess Gourmet

DAPHNE'S GREEK CAFE - Woodland Hills, CA

I love Greek food and I usually don't have it for lunch since there aren't many Greek places near my office. When I do have Greek though, it's usually at a restaurant and not "fast food". I decided to try Daphne's Greek Cafe, about 10 minutes from my office, in a fairly new office complex. I wanted to try something new and different so I ventured out on a beautiful sunny day and made the short drive over to Daphne's.

They have a pretty diverse menu consisting of starters, fresh salads, soups, plate combinations, lunch combos, fresh grilled pita sandwiches, including kids meals and sides. I decided to have the Fresh Grilled Pita Sandwich Lunch Combo which included a fresh carved gyros pita, tzatziki sauce, a fountain drink and a choice of two of three items offered with this combo: greek salad, rice or fries.  I opted for the greek salad and fries.

I heard from a co-worker that the service was somewhat slow so I was surprised that I got my order pretty quickly. I had it to go and I should have checked it before I left. When I got to my office, my order was incomplete. It did not have the tzatziki sauce and without it, a gyro just isn't a gyro. Instead, the gyro had Italian dressing. My greek salad did not have any dressing on it whatsoever! What's up with that? And the fries--wow, I get more from a small order of fries from McDonalds! Actually, Daphne's was doing me a favor since I really should lay off the fries but it's the principal of the thing. The gyro meat look like it had been sliced and left out a little too long and it wasn't as warm as I thought it should be (my office isn't that far). It was decent but I think it could have been better.

Will I go back? I'm not sure if I will. I go to this Meditteranean place at the Westfield Fashion Square Mall in Sherman Oaks and their gyros are fresh, hot, moist and flavorful--not to mention, with loads of tzatziki sauce! I know Daphne's is a franchise so perhaps I'll have a different experience at another location. In the meantime, I'll stick to the Mall if I want a gyro!

DAPHNE'S GREEK CAFE
5780 Canoga Avenue
Woodland Hills, California 91367
Phone: 818.595.3322

www.daphnes.biz

TRASTEVERE RISTORANTE ITALIANO - Santa Monica, CA

TRASTEVERE RISTORANTE ITALIANO is one of many restaurants on the busy 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Carlo and I were meeting a friend of his for lunch at the Promenade but we had not yet settled on a place to eat.  We met his friend at the Barnes & Nobles Bookstore and strolled down the street looking for a possible place for lunch.  His friend had one request--that it not be Chinese (he lives in Shanghai and was in the States for a visit)!  We were pretty hungry at that point (he was a bit delayed) so when we happened upon Trastevere, it looked inviting and not crowded so we decided to try it.

We were seated at a table by the window which offered a street view of the Promenade, great for people watching.  We ordered our drinks and an appetizer and got down to the business of catching up.

We ordered the I Calamari Fritti, which was fried calamari served with spicy marinara, lemon and parsley.  Lightly fried, it was tender inside, the outside, crisp.  Very good.

For our entrees, I ordered the Risotto Gamberi e Asparagi, an aborio rice risotto with shrimp and asparagus, cooked in lobster broth. It was a bit bland for my taste and I added more parmesan to give it a some flavor. I wished it was just a bit more creamy and had a little more seasoning.

 

Carlo ordered the Ravioloni Ricotta e Spinaci, large ricotta cheese and spinach ravioli with tomato sauce, fresh basil and parmesan. His friend Jackson ordered the Pollo, Brocoli e Pomodori Secchi, sauteed chicken breast, broccoli and sundried tomatoies with a touch of cream. Both enjoyed their entrees and after seeing their dishes, wished I had ordered pasta instead. If risotto is on the menu, I will usually order it over pasta and I've never ordered a risotto I didn't like. This was the first time that I can say that if I do come back to this restaurant, that I will not order this dish. It's too bad though, the dish had potential. Maybe the chef's taste buds were out of whack that day???

 

I was in the mood for dessert and looking forward to my one scoop of cappuccino gelato with a cup of coffee after my disappointing meal. They couldn't screw up dessert, right?  Wow, was I wrong. I could taste the "freezer burn" on the gelato and could not finish it. It was so beautifully presented and looked so good that I couldn't believe it when I took that initial bite.

 

My overall experience with Trastevere was not a good one unfortunately. The restaurant wasn't too busy and our waiter wasn't attentive enough. He had forgotten to bring me an iced tea and I had to wait 20 minutes before my husband stopped the bus boy (the waiter was no where to be found) and asked if he could get me an iced tea (which he responded to very quickly)--thank goodness for the bus boy!

It you want to check it out yourself, by all means. I consoled myself afterwards by buying myself an outfit at nearby Zara!

 

TRAVESTERE RISTORANTE ITALIANO
1360 3rd Street Promenade
Santa Monica, California  90401
Phone: 310.319.1985

www.trastevereristorante.com

 

BLUEBERRY HOTCAKES!

 

While we were in Vegas for the Christmas holidays, my MIL made these amazing blueberry hotcakes. They were large, golden and puffy as well as moist and filling. Just a pat of butter and maple syrup was all it needed. Yumm-o!