Lemonade

Last weekend, Amy and I went went down to Abbot Kinney in Venice to sweat it out spinning at YAS (yoga and spinning, clever huh?). Afterwards our stomachs were craving some munchies so we decided to try a restaurant called Lemonade. Little did we know, our lives would be changed! That sounds dramatic, I know, so let me try to set this scene up for you.

Abbot Kinney is a trendy street in Venice known for it's high end restaurants and boutiques, in other words expensive. Amy and I went prepared to split a meal or even turn around and walk out in case the price didn't please our Dave Ramsey plan (google him and get on the plan which is also life changing).

We walked into a cafeteria style restaurant with a modern feel. It reminded me of an IKEA cafeteria but with zero screaming children. Simple menu: a selection of cold portions, a la carte sandwiches, meat or salads and a selection of hot portions. There was also a tasty looking dessert section that I couldn't look at for fear of having to return to spin class. And of course they had lots of different types of lemonade, which I'm sorry I can't report on but I plan to try the name sake soon.

When we approached the counter we felt intimidated by the many interesting combinations of cold portions we could choose from. We told the girl helping us that it was our first visit and she was happy to give us many samples like sweet potatoes with pistachios along with chicken, jicama with green goddess dressing, just to name a few. Everything we sampled was amazing and the combinations were incredible, things I could never think of. I decided on getting one portion split between kale, mushrooms with tangerine vinaigrette and watermelon radish, ahi tuna, snap peas, black sesame with ginger. Keep in mind, I have never eaten or had the desire to eat kale in my life. Even though I split one portion with two items the helpings were generous, enough to feed my growling belly. When I reached the cash register my bill came to $4.62! Amazing (Dave would be proud)! Amy added a braised meat to her meal which bumped her total to a little over $6.00 (not bad at all). We sat down to eat our unique meal and our taste buds were overwhelmed with satisfaction. Powerful flavors, the crazy but somehow perfect combinations and I felt healthier with each bite. Amy and I were, well let's say, just a little excited. Our praises may have been a little loud. We couldn't believe people were not as excited as us, why were they not jumping up and down in celebration of this culinary artistry?

Then Amy remembered they had truffled mac and cheese and wanted to try it because we are suckers for anything truffled. When she went to the counter she asked a different person,"can we try the truffled mac and cheese? Its our first time here." He said, "we know, we heard." Oops. Confirmed. We are too loud. She brought back the little sample dish sat it on the table and I took a bite. "Amy, you need to try this right now!" She took a bite, closed her eyes and exclaimed, "Amazing!!!"

We immediately decided to take all our friends here ASAP. In fact, we felt like we didn't have a meal to lose, we were coming back for dinner.

So later that night, we brought back Amy's husband Matt for dinner (our other peeps couldn't make it but they are excited to try soon). I had another split portion, well roasted heirloom carrots, mixed herbs with basil along with avocado, cherry tomato, pine nuts with lime. I also added some meat, chicken basque, artichoke and olives. Unfortunately they ran out of the truffled mac and cheese for the day, not surprising because is is incredible. There's always next time!

If I could write Lemonade a letter is would read like this:

Dear Lemonade,

I eat kale now. Enough said.

Love, Emma C.

*for more information about Lemonade please visit http://lemonadela.com.