Dogs and Cats

The rolls at Kasa

I hit several spots last week but by the time weekend rolled around I realized it wasn’t really a revolutionary food week for me. In fact, as I write this, I have to scratch my head to remember where I went and what I had. Don’t read this as a complaint – the company and the weather was top-notch!

I revisited my East Bay roots Wednesday evening at Saturn in Berkeley with my childhood friend Lauren. We used to ride our bikes together to elementary school (in rain, sleet, hurricanes, or broken legs as I like to remind my mom). As I get older, I realize how special it is to have a friend for that long. And a friend that lets me choose where we eat! Not one to shy away from a steak, Lauren enthusiastically joined me to the vegetarian diner on Allston Way. While I gave up my vegan streak several weeks ago, my tastes have changed and I truly enjoy a meatless meal. But, I was little disappointed with Saturn. Lauren and I walked in and both immediately noticed something about the place smelled kind of funny. Not a great way to start but I soldiered on. I ordered the California veggie burger (topped with avocado and vegan cheese). It was fine. The patty looked like a Boca burger you buy at Safeway; I’ve had veggie burgers that are thick with beans, sprouts, lentils, etc – this was just not the case. I suppose I was expecting a little more from a restaurant whose M.O. is vegetarian.

The next night, I met up with Amber for Indian food at Kasa on Fillmore street. Indian is in the running for my favorite ethnic food: curries, spicy, hearty, and a great bread to slop it all up. I even had a Groupon – and discounted food always tastes better, right!? The problem with Kasa is it’s not traditional Indian food. A few issues:
• The menu. Pretttttty sure one needs a PHD to figure out how it works. I don’t even want to get into it because it frustrates me.
• No Naan bread. I thought they were joking when they said they don’t serve it. Next thing you know Greek restaurants won’t be serving Pita! Instead, they serve Roti, which was just okay but definitely a letdown after I spent the previous few hours daydreaming about Naan.
• Presentation. Option 1 on the menu is basically an Indian burrito (see photo). Burritos should only be available at Mexican joints, in my opinion.

All in all, the meal wasn’t bad at all. It’s just that Kasa tries to get original with its Indian and I’d prefer to stick to the basics: big bowls of meat curry and slabs of Naan bread.

Lastly, I met the parents at Americano for lunch on Friday. Again, there was nothing wrong with the meal but no compelling reason to hurry back. I chose the Dine About Town menu, which started with a mushroom soup (same as last week’s DAT starter at Chaya) and featured the “Crispy heritage pork belly and braised duck with chanterelles.” I thought the mushroom soup was excellent; but having just raved about it at Chaya, I am thinking it may not be too hard to execute? The entrée description screamed fatty meat, and what was presented before me was even fattier than I could have imagined. So much so, in fact, my mom couldn’t eat hers. It’s not often I indulge in that kind of fat and I have to say I quite enjoyed it. Vegan days be gone!