Birthday Dinner at Carmelita

This past week was a fun yet busy one. Wednesday was my birthday. I started the day out at my eye doctor appointment which went well. Then we spent a few hours doing a walking tour of Fremont. I will post more about that as soon as I can get the pictures organized a bit.

For dinner we went to the restaurant Carmelita in Phinney Ridge just a couple miles from where we live. Carmelita is an upscale vegetarian restaurant with reaallly yummy food. When the restaurant first opened about 11 years ago it caught my awareness because of course Carmelita is also my name. Doesn't everyone have a restaurant named after them? If you do I think it's mandatory that you go there and have a meal.

Back when Carmelita first opened we tried to eat there but encountered a long wait for dinner even early on a weeknight. We decided to go somewhere else that evening and left with the intention of returning another day. I don't know why it took us over a decade to do so.

Our friend Doxey lives just a couple blocks from Carmelita. We had not told him we were going there, but as luck would have it we arrived at the restaurant at the same time Doxey got off the bus on his way home from work. Before we went inside I was going to take a picture of the "Carmelita" sign out front.

Just as I was framing up the shot I heard a voice behind me exclaim "Walter and Carmelita!" When I turned around it was Doxey! When we told Doxey we were going to have dinner at Carmelita he offered to take our picture in front of the restaurant with the sign.

What a a fun surprise to run into Doxey. Thanks for taking our picture Doxey!

When we went inside the restaurant we were happy to see that there was no long wait as we had experienced years earlier. In fact we were the only couple in the place! Later on there was one more couple but that was it. We enjoyed a leisurely and delicious dinner in an elegant atmosphere.

We had some yummy bread and a tasty cheese plate before our meal. For dinner Walter had Potato-Gruyere gratin with Swiss chard, leek cream, and fennel-radish salad with croutons. And I chose the Baked Roman-style gnocchi, lemon cream, rapini, pearl onion, pine nuts with blueberry sauce. The presentation was a work of art and both our meals were just to die for delicious.

Walter is pretty open minded about food and isn't a strict meat eater. Before dinner though he told me he "had a protein jones." So I was a little nervous about whether he would enjoy his dinner. In the end he loved it and his meat craving went away entirely.

If you are vegetarian or enjoy vegetarian food from time to time I recommend this place for a special occasion. It's a bit pricey for every day (at least on our budget) but definitely worth a visit if you want a special evening out.