Trying New Food Spots
/I really enjoy browsing the Hot & New restaurants section on Yelp from time to time to find out about new places we might like to try. There have been quite a few that have opened in the last several months at The Village at Totem Lake so we’ve been working our way through some of them. Here’s what we’ve sampled so far:
Silverlake Ramen: We checked this out right after we returned from our Portland road trip. I ordered the classic tonkotsu and Jeff ordered the Blaze (essentially a spicy tonkotsu) and we were both very satisfied with our choices. I tend towards being a die hard Santouka tonkotsu shio ramen fan, but I’d say this came in at a close second for me if that gives any indication of how tasty it was.
Joe’s Burgers: This is a walk up burger shop with a few outdoor tables to sit down and eat (though there is plenty of other outdoor seating around as well). We ordered two Joe’s Classic Cheeseburgers, a chili cheese dog, fries, and Cajun tots. The burgers are similar to In N Out and the fried items were nicely done (aka nicely crispy and not soggy). Jeff enjoyed the chili cheese dog, but preferred the burger.
Due Cucina: This is a fast casual Italian spot that makes fresh pasta in house. I like that you build your own dish by pairing one of the rotating pasta options with the sauces. We ordered the amatriciana with casarecce pasta, lasagna alla bolognese (this one was a special), and cacio & pepe with campanelle. Everything was really tasty, but the amatriciana was amazing. We’ll be back to try more pasta and sauce combinations in the future for sure!
Salt & Straw: We have visited Salt & Straw in the past, but not this location. This visit, we had the wild-foraged berry slab pie and it was heavenly. I’m usually lean much more towards chocolatey ice creams than berry, but this stuff hit the spot.
It’s nice to have a nearby spot with lots of options like this - and the great news is that there are still more spots we haven’t tried yet!
