Other menu items that tempted me were the bruschettas on toasted artisan bread made with various toppings such as ricotta cheese and olive tapenade Portobello mushroom and Taleggio cheese prosciutto with house made marmalade ricotta with pears, and one featuring three different kinds of mozzarella (burrata, buffalo and cow’s milk). The Puttanesca pizza featured onions, shrimp olives, capers and Fresno chili. Yet another had asparagus, smoked bacon, leeks, black truffle and organic egg. Another one had Sicilian tuna, onions and mozzarella. One pizza struck me as unique, with fingerling potatoes, Fontina cheese, pancetta and leeks. If you are in the mood for a really good pizza, you will probably appreciate some of the ingredients they layer onto theirs. Nevertheless, Chocolat serves all sorts of delicious bistro items, including, but not limited to, sumptuous desserts filled with chocolate. The pizzas alone could keep Chocolat in business, although Chocolat would be kind of a silly name for a pizza joint. The pie was delicious and savory more like a tart than a pizza. She said yes, so I opted for the pizza, but even after I ordered, I asked the server if I could keep the menu at the table so that I could peruse it a little more. After I stopped daydreaming, I asked the server if I could forgo the prosciutto, to make my pizza pie vegetarian.
I wavered back and forth between the pumpkin ravioli the crepes filled with Portobello mushrooms and Gruyere cheese and a handmade brick oven pizza with Mission figs, caramelized onions, Gorgonzola cheese, candied pecans and aged balsamic vinegar. After her third or fourth attempt to take our order, we finally obliged her, apologized to her and placed our order. The server was very nice and brought us our menus, and even though she checked back a few times, and we still hadn’t even looked at the menu, she seemed unperturbed and was very understanding. The Starving Artist and I had not seen each other in a very long time, so we commenced chatting and gossiping, yet not twittering, even though we were both starving.
#Chocolat hillcrest plus#
Not that I’ve ever been to Paris, but it looked like what I think a Paris bistro should look like, with floor to ceiling glass windows on the front and sides, plus the restaurant is situated on a corner, perfect for dining and people watching. Chocolat has a delightfully inviting façade with a whimsical looking sign that reminded me of Paris. The last time I was in Hillcrest, there was a completely different business in that location, but I cannot recall what it was. It looked promising, so across and down the street we went.
I assumed it was a dessert place, but the Starving Artist said he had heard that it was also a bistro. As we were walking around, after discovering that the Banana Leaf is closed for lunch on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays (which doesn’t bode well for its future, but that is for another review) we spotted Chocolat on the corner of 5thand University Avenue. I had not been to Hillcrest in quite a long while. We had planned to eat at an Indian restaurant in Hillcrest called Banana Leaf several times, but due to conflicting schedules, his, the Banana Leaf’s and mine, we ended up going to Chocolat instead it turned out to be a delightful surprise. This happened to my friend, the Starving Artist, and me a few months back. I would probably cook the bone for a stock and then spice it instead of frying it - youd end up with a lot more marrow to play with and the soups could benefit too.Sometimes you set out to dine at a particular restaurant, but then you end up eating somewhere else. Wouldnt raise an issue with this if it were a light appetizer but for $20 I felt a little salty about it. You could taste the brick oven though which is nice.The toast that came with the bone marrow was really good, but I found it a bit too optimistic to give me so much of it for the amount of marrow we were able to scavenge out of the bones - they could maybe thinly spread enough for one. My wife had an eggs Benny and I had a pizza, plus we shared a portion of bone marrow.Please take this as constructive criticism as I liked the place a lot, but:The pizza was really nothing special, a lot of spices and some prosciutto and arugula on a seemingly prefrozen pasta base. The drinks were very nice and the dessert I loved. Wonderful little place, outstanding service and a huge menu to choose from.
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