Have a recommendation? We'd LOVE to hear it!
Salutations Readers!

Kalamazoo has good food.
Great food, in fact. We have made it our mission to check out all the local eateries one at a time - and more for our own poor memories than any other reason, we'll be chronicling our adventures in food here. And some places float our boats way more than others, which is why we have developed the very scientific
five golden forks rating scale. Ok. It is not scientific at all. It is actually quite unscientific. But, it is something. And now, you can search all of our reviews by the forks rating. YAY!


But, wait! There's more!
Kalamazoo Foodies no longer just eat at restaurants then review them. There are recipes posted, some easy, some less easy, all delicious. There are, or will be, book reviews, the new
Foodie Movie Review-y which will focus on movies about food or ones that have a lot of beautiful food in them. There are other food musings, and hopefully soon contests and so much more. But, Foodie Friends, it is all about food. Because we love it!
And, we want to hear from you!

We want to hear your comments on our recipes and reviews. We want to know where you love to eat. And, we are looking for GUEST bloggers to broaden our horizons a bit. And, if you haven't found us on Facebook, you should do that too. Like our page for other fun Foodies stuff like photos, polls, and more.


SO KALAMAZOO PATRONS - where do YOU love to eat? Because we'd love to check it out and share our thoughts here. Give us a comment below, and quickly! Our tummies are grumbling in anticipation.

A Note from the Foodies about our typical fair:
So, you may notice as you read our blog that we often order the same thing wherever we go. OK, maybe not quite, but we do often order similar things. Kristin has her caprese salads and mushroom dishes. Kate has her baked goat cheese and things with tofu. Well, readers, we wanted to let you know that this is absolutely intentional. A) We love those things, so why not order what you love? And, B) It is a lot easier to compare apples to apples than it is to compare apples to comquats. So, we like to order similar things to have a good sense of how to compare them. Just wanted to let you in on that little secret. Bon appetit!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Cafe Habana, Ann Arbor


Kate: Baked Goat Cheese, Arepas, and Volcanic Mojito
Paul and I took a weekend getaway to the eastern side of the state and visited several fun dining locations. This was, by far, the most notable of them all. In fact, our travels didn't take us to Ann Arbor, when went specifically to eat at this restaurant. Way out of our way. Because Paul could not stop telling me about it. And, it is difficult to find Cuban restaurants. So, off we went. The last stop on our journey.
I will qualify this post by saying, please do not judge me for the amount of goat cheese I consumed in this meal. You all know I love it so, and I may have overdone it here, but I do not regret it!
So, as you know, if I see "Baked Goat Cheese" on a menu, I am totally going to order it! This was pretty standard baked goat cheese, though it was served with tortilla chips rather than the usual bread or pita. And, I really liked how the saltiness of the chips complimented the acidity of the tomatoes and the flavor of the cheese. We devoured this! I probably didn't help that we hadn't eaten much that day (intentionally) but, yum. I still prefer the Vino Vino baked goat cheese, but this was a close second.
I decided to go a little crazy and order a mojito. I don't think I had ever had one before. And, I was intriguied by the fresh mango and pomegranate juice that rounded out this one. What a great choice. This was deliciously refreshing. And, the fruitiness was perfect with the meal. The mint was not overwhelming but present. I wished this glass was never ending. A great drink. If you see a volcanic mojito on a menu and you dig pomegranate and mango, do it!
Now, the entree, my my the entree. WOW! Just wow! The description of this entree is as follows: griddled cornmeal cakes with herbed goat cheese, avocado, pico de gallo, mashed boniato and sauteed spinach. Yes, I really did just list all those amazing flavors. My first bite of this dish was heaven. All the flavors just danced in my mouth. The goat cheese was in the center of the dish and took a little work to get to, and that made it all the more amazing. The cornmeal cakes was griddled perfectly, and the mashed boniato was great. I know I am not being terribly descriptive, but it was just so overwhelmingly good, it is hard to put into words. And, best of all, it re-heated amazingly well. I was skeptical with all the ingredients, but I scraped off the pico de gallo before heating it up day 2 and it was still tasty. Not nearly as good as it was when it came to the table, but still very good. It was a hefty portion, so it needed to be spread out a little.
If you happen to be near Ann Arbor, pop into this joint. Cool decor. Nice wait staff. Delicious food!

five golden forks out of five!

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