Last Saturday (after the boy had his first nap in a week) we wearily shut the door on the stacks of boxes, furniture littered with laundry, and general detritus of a tired family, and drove to Eagle Rock to spend the weekend with our best pals. We ate out for every meal, took strolls, not walks, but lazy occasionally shod strolls. We made stuff. The boy slept a lot. We cavalierly stayed up late and talked, and then, the next day? We all took naps. Such a great weekend.
I love Eagle Rock. It has such a homey, old California kind of feel with its wide tree-lined streets and sturdy old bungalows. And? There's the food.
All in shoes this time, we sauntered up the street to Blue Hen for dinner on Saturday night. This cozy little Vietnamese cafe fits in perfectly in this neighborhood. It's almost like a clean and stylish extension of your own house, with perhaps more of a Vietnamese bent.
The food is good. It is made with care from quality ingredients. They use predominately locally grown organic produce. The simple menu is not all vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter, which makes it a good crowd pleaser for mixed company, but the herbivores have a lot of choices. The menu is very clearly written, giving you options to sub tofu and vegetarian sauces in most dishes. I love knowing that my tofu won't be cooked in chicken broth or fish sauce.
After our sweaty two block stroll, our cool bubbly lime tonics were a welcome refresher and perfect companion to the appetizers. The spring rolls were nicely done - stuffed with tofu and rice noodles, shredded carrot and spinach, with a rich, sweet-spicy peanut sauce to dip. But the crispy, almost mahogany, gloriously deep-fried imperial rolls were special. They were stuffed with a flavorful blend of tofu and cabbagey sort of vege that is spiced with a blend of warm flavors - star anise, cloves? They come with lettuce leaves and shredded carrot to snuggle them in before you dip in the light sweet soy broth.
The main dishes come with a scoop of organic brown or jasmine rice and lightly sauteed asian greens with a hint of sesame oil. Paul and I swapped bites of Mama Luu's Tofu and the Home-style Curry, but I was wishing that I had that first one all to myself. Along with the rice and greens, it consists of crispy squares of fried tofu drizzled in a slightly sweet sauce loaded with scallions. The curry was good - spicy, heaped with carrots and potatoes and tofu, but it was no Mama Luu.
I can tell you nothing of the desserts. I didn't notice anything calling out to the vegans from the chalk board of daily offerings, but by then the boy was ready for bed and my best pals had watermelon a'chillin' and a front porch meant for sittin' Man, I missed those guys.
