PRRP installment 16: Efrain's (and Chocolaterie Stam)

From our few remaining dinner places, we drew Efrain's. This is probably the best-known restaurant on Public Road and also the longest-lived except for the Fortune Cookie and Ting's. We vaguely remember the restaurant that was there before Efrain's, which had a name that started with a T and an eclectic menu that included things like roast duck, but we can't recall the name--or the place that was there before that one. At any rate, we hadn't been to Efrain's in several years. 

We walked up at 5 p.m. to avoid the long waits that are typical of weekend dinnertimes there. We enjoyed our meals, and the service was brisk, friendly, and competent. G had chicken fajitas, and I had the tamale plate. The tamales came from the kitchen very hot and were smothered in a flavorful red chile sauce. 

Afterward, we walked across the street to Chocolaterie Stam for dessert (a truffle for G and gelato for me). It was quiet when we first got there, as it was still only 6:15 p.m., but several groups were coming in when we left. And there was a piano player!

I thought the  margarita was pretty.

The tamales were hot and tasty, especially because I liked the red chile sauce. G liked the fajitas but thought the meat should have come on a sizzling plate accompanied by grilled onions and peppers. 

Photo of me and the restaurant in the mirror that we were seated next to. 

Dessert at Stam: cookies and cream gelato and a dark chocolate truffle. You can see the piano player waaaay in the background.

Stam has the most beautiful counter.

PRRP installment 15: Eats & Sweets

From our few remaining breakfast/lunch places, we drew Eats & Sweets. E&S actually stays open until 8 pm Sun-Thurs and 9 pm Fri and Sat, but I put it in my breakfast/lunch group because its menu is mainly salads/sandwiches/soups and I thought we'd like to visit it at lunchtime. It was hopping today! We have been there quite a few times over the years but not recently, so it was nice to see it so busy. 

Everything was very good, and G said it is his new favorite because he liked his Dave's Roast Beef sandwich so much (it is one of the house creations, and you can also build your own sandwich). He had a cup of carrot-ginger soup with it, and I had clam chowder and a salad topped with chicken salad. Note that if you add extra ingredients to your salad from the list of ingredients that cost extra, you get sizable portions! I ended up with a full half of an avocado along with this giant scoop of chicken salad. 

We also tried two chocolate cupcakes, one with white frosting and one with chocolate. Delicious!

Lots of both eats and sweets that we haven't tried yet! 

Eats & Sweets was hopping at lunchtime.

For me: salad topped with chicken salad and a cup of clam chowder. For G, Dave's Roast Beef and carrot-ginger soup. The soups were peppery, but we like them that way! Note the ice cream happy hour sign in the background.

Delicious cupcakes!

PRRP addendum: French Twist Food Truck at Odd 13 (CLOSED)

Update January 2022: Closed during the pandemic when the owner got a job elsewhere, although who knows, it may return someday!

Two food posts in two days! This one was not officially a PRRP installment, but I consider it a PRRP detour because it is only two blocks off Public Road. 

Kat and I finally synced our schedules and the French Twist Food Truck's schedule at Odd13 (every Saturday and every other Sunday, 12:30-8:30) and had lunch there. First, we took a longish walk with the dogs to work up an appetite; then we dropped the dogs off and wandered over a little after 12:30. 

I ordered the croque madame and Kat ordered the salmon madame, and we traded a few bites and found them both so amazing that we agreed we should have split them down the middle. The croque madame is ham and swiss with a mushroom-bechamel sauce. The salmon madame has smoked salmon mixed with cream cheese with tomatoes and a lemon-caper cream sauce. They paired well with Odd beer! We also split a creme brulee that was so good that we cleaned out every angle of the container.

Note that at first we expected to see the truck parked on the street and thought it wasn't there for a second until we remembered that it would be inside the courtyard.

You can have dogs on the Odd 13 patio, but we weren't sure it was warm enough to sit outside for long, and we did move indoors when the temperature dropped, so we dropped them off before we went over. Kat had one of the IPAs, and I had the Mark Lark unfiltered lager and liked it a lot.

Croque madame and salmon croque (they look the same from the outside but are quite different inside!). The waffle-cut potato chips were delicious and just the right degree of saltiness. They also came with a side of ratatouille.

Creme brulee--AMAZING.

Louise the French Twist Food Truck

PRRP installment 14: Ting's Place (CLOSED)

Ting's Place closed permanently in 2023.

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Ting's has been around since 1988, a year before we moved to Lafayette, and we used to eat there frequently when it was in what used to be called (I think) Coal Creek Plaza. From the days of those visits, we even have a goofy inside joke where we say "Ting's" instead of "Thanks." (Don't judge; I said it was goofy!) 

We had stopped going in recent years, for no reason except that we favored restaurants in easier walking distance, and we had only been to the newer location a couple of times before. We ordered the Mandarin meal for two and got soup (wonton for both), assorted appetizers (eggrolls, fried wontons, ribs), an entree (spicy tangy chicken and cashew shrimp), and ice cream for a fixed price. It was all good, and we enjoyed revisiting this old favorite.

Appetizer assortment: all good!

Wonton soup, fried wontons (which we did not actually eat but were brought when we sat down), tea, and Tsingtao 

Spicy tangy chicken and cashew shrimp with fried rice. We had never tried either of these before, and they were both good. G might like something even spicier than the spicy tangy chicken next time.

G got a mysterious fortune. Mine was more straightforward.

PRRP installment 13: Asian King Buffet (CLOSED)

Update January 2022: Closed even before the pandemic and replaced by Tandoori Kitchen.

I included Asian King Buffet on the list, even though it is technically on South Boulder Road, because it is at the Public Road end of the church mall, next to other restaurants with Public Road addresses. We had never been there even though it has been around for a while ... and now it has been checked off the list! 

It is a dark and mysterious place, although the buffet section is well lit. I tried a few bites of quite a few different things, and I thought the hot & sour soup, fried wontons, Mongolian beef, lo mein, and grilled chicken were OK. I didn't see steamed rice, so I asked a staff member, and she got me some from behind the counter.

[2019 update: This place is now gone, so I admit that it was OK but not a place we would have returned to. Tandoori Kitchen is now in this location.]

It looks like the moon, but it is really the Flatirons Church logo.

The buffet area

Wonton soup and hot & sour soup. I wanted to try the h&s soup because someone recommended it if you are sick, and I have a cold. It was pretty good.

G's first try at the buffet: jalapeno beef, grilled mussels, and sesame chicken. He did not recommend the mussels but said the other two were OK. He also did not recommend using the restroom. 

G's second shot at the buffet (background) and my plate with a few bites of various things on steamed rice (foreground).