Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Hollywood: Cafe Gratitude (round two)

Lunch last Friday, after a morning at the oh-so-pretty-can-we-please-move-here-now Getty Villa, was at Cafe Gratitude with David. Around 1pm the restaurant was mostly full, but we were immediately seated at a quiet outside table.  To start, we ordered the I Am Grace smoothie and I Am Gorgeous lemonade.  The former is the coconut/almond/date/vanilla combination that we loved during our first visit back in October.  The latter is a "green lemonade" with kale juice, agave and sparkling water.  We thought a better name might be, in fact, I Am Green or even I Am Chlorophyll; it was definitely healthy, but we weren't exactly enamored.

For an appetizer we tried I Am Present: bruschetta of nutty wheat bread with butternut squash, cashew mozzarella, and fig-balsamic vinegar.  Cashew mozzarella is excellent, as it turns out, and not at all lacking in creaminess.


David had the I Am Cool mint chocolate chip milkshake, which was apparently delicious.  As his entree he tried and liked I Am Terrific: Pad thai with kelp noodles, bell peppers, carrots, kale, cilantro, basil, mint, scallions, almonds and sprouts.


My choice was I Am Humble: rice/quinoa with curried lentils, spinach, yams, tamarind chutney and cilantro.  A repeat order from our first visit, and still good.


Andrew's I Am Graceful: rice/quinoa with hemp seed pesto, kale, tomatoes, brazil nut parmesan, and sprouts.  This tasted more like a salad than anything else, considering the high proportion of kale.


I think it's fair to say that with this lunch, we somewhat balanced out the previous day's indulgences at Pizzeria Mozza.  And there were even some leftovers of the two grain bowls, so we finished them in the evening as a side dish for a shared chicken wowshi from Bella Pita.