Monday, July 4, 2011

Palo Alto: Cafe Venetia (formerly Caffe del Doge)

I returned to LA yesterday after a wonderful vacation.  Now it's back to the routine of lab and gearing up for the start of classes next month, but as promised, I have some posts from the past week.  First off, there was a Saturday visit to Caffe del Doge (recently renamed Cafe Venetia) on University Ave.  With drinks and dessert at a sidewalk table, Andrew and I spent an hour or two basking in caffeine and glorious Palo Alto weather.


One Giacometto, which is the same espresso drink with Nutella and crushed hazelnuts that I had last time.  This time the drink was much more attractively foamed/presented; I think your aesthetic experience may depend on who your barista is.  To accompany, one drink-with-a-fancy-name-I-can't-remember, involving espresso with a thick layer of foamy mint cream and chocolate shavings on top.  And of course, it was hard to resist the attractive array of cakes and pastries, so we chose a slice of chocolate almond cake.  It's not too sweet, on the dry side, and has an outer ganache and frosting layer that is almost fondant-like.