Solar de Cahuenga



Another short post but wanted to get this out there, especially if you live/work in the Hollywood area as I do (work, not live!). I very rarely leave my building for lunch and instead enjoy my lunch straight out of a Tupperware in front of the warm glow of my computer screen. However, I know it's good for the soul to pry oneself from their office and get some sun once in awhile, so my friend B and I decided to actually eat out the other day.



Nestled in the heart of Hollywood, my eating options are either Shintaro sushi or something in the Hollywood/Highland shopping complex. Although the food at The Grill is good, I don't normally like to fork over $20+ for lunch. Shintaro is probably my first choice for a lunch out, but I drive past a really cute crepe place every morning that has piqued my interest for awhile now. It's called Solar de Cahuenga and it's just one of those places that you think "I HAVE to try it sometime!" but haven't gotten around to. Well, I'm happy to say that I finally did, and I'll be back again soon.


The coffeehouse vibe is a great way to escape the workday, and their system makes it easy to have a fast lunch. Walk up to counter, place order, get your number and find a table. I ordered the Sunny Path - grilled chicken breast, sautéed onions & button mushrooms in a rich Dijon sauce crepe- which was filled to the brim with the creamy mixture. It was delicious and I was pretty surprised at the large portion. My friend B got Susie's Own - lean ground beef sautéed with sweet onions, red bell peppers, spinach, nutmeg & chopped hard boiled eggs finished with marinara sauce- which wasn't quite as successful- it wasn't bad but it had nutmeg in it which I thought was odd with the beef. Also, I'd rename it The Kitchen Sink Crepe if I was them. Honestly- it just had too much stuff going on. He devoured the whole thing anyway.



Solar de Cahuenga offers lots of breakfast items, sandwiches, panninis, crepes, coffee drinks and lots of sweet goodies. It might not be the most authentic in crepes, it's still nice as a fresh lunch option. I'd like to go back and try some of their sandwiches which looked very good from afar.




Menu

1847 Cahuenga Blvd Los Angeles, CA 90028 (323) 467-7510

Recipes From Other Blogs....



No time to really write much today so I thought I'd post a couple of things I'd made recently. Both were from other blogs.....when you read as many food blogs as I do, who needs cookbooks?!?! These people are so talented and give us all access to such wonderful photography and commentary that it's hard not to be inspired.

Farro, Roasted Butternut Squash & Black Kale



I saw Heidi's Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash and knew I had to make something like this since she combined two of my favorite foods. I used her recipe as inspiration and cooked my farro is chicken stock, then tossed it with butternut squash I had roasted with olive oil, thyme and garlic. I also added my new favorite vegetable black kale which I had also sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Some dried porcini mushrooms had been hiding in my pantry so I reconsituted those, chopped them roughly and added them as well as a bit of their liquid to the whole thing. Tossed with some sea salt and lots of black pepper, it has quickly become one of our go-to side dishes.



Fig and Almond Tart



Although mine doesn't look nearly as gorgeous as Jules' version on her beautiful blog, stonesoup, it tasted delicious and had my husband clamoring for more. I've always loved frangipane with any fruit (especially pears) and the combination of the almonds, eggs, butter and vanilla creates one of the best sweet flavors ever.



Hopefully I'll have some time to get my holiday baking started. Speaking of which- if anyone has a foolproof, easy-to-handle sugar cookie recipe (meaning easy to roll and cut from) I'd love it if you could share. Although I really enjoy baking Christmas cookies, I'm not the biggest fan of cut-out cookies since a lot of the dough is so fussy.