Consuming Ambitions

Coupa Cafe: The Buck's of Palo Alto?

Okay, Coupa Cafe is not about to unseat Woodside's venerable house of kitsch as the preferred meeting/eating spot for Silicon Valley movers and shakers, but Coupa does feature a high energy dose of startup entrepreneurs, VCs and Valley execs mixed amongst the students and other patrons.  On recent visits I have witnessed a small startup team meeting, a job interview, and a VC pitching an entrepreneur (yes, that was the VC doing the dance...we are definitely in another Bubble).  So there is a lot more going on at Coupa than fine Venezuelan coffee and chocolate.

From a foodie standpoint there are two things to know about Coupa.  First are the arepas, Venezuela's national snack.  A pillow-like griddle cake stuffed with a sweet or savory filling paired with a small mesclun side salad makes for a satisfying repast (double down on the arepa to stretch it into a meal).  As a historical note, the arepa is all that remains of White Castle's ill-fated attempt to enter the Venezuela fast-food market (Editor: Not true!  The arepa comes originally from a tribe located in northern Venezuela, named the Cumanagotos.  Quit your wisecracking.)

My favorite thing at Coupa, though, is the spicy Maya hot chocolate (thankfully available iced, so we can continue to enjoy it through the summer).  The bittersweet chocolate laced with cinnamon, plus pasilla and cayenne chile peppers is a bodacious brew with some real kick.

Coupa Cafe
538 Ramona Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 322-6872

Crepes in Palo Alto

With the June 14th opening of Bistro Maxine, there are now at least four casual places in Palo Alto at which to enjoy a crepe.  Besides the aforementioned Bistro, one can find the classic French treat at Douce France (in Town & Country), Cafe 220, and the Palo Alto Farmer's Market.  I would have said "casual and quick" but the latter qualification would have ruled out the Farmer's Market stand, which sports long lines on most Saturday mornings (except maybe that chilly second weekend in December when the Market bids us farewell and generally feels like a ghost town).  In defense of the Market stand, I would say its crepes are quite good, though possibly the perception of goodness is enhanced by the amount of time one spends standing in line, sniffing the aroma of batter and filling on the griddle.  Douce France turns out a solid crepe as well.  I have high hopes for Bistro Maxine and look forward to trying it.

Junnoon: Eclectic, Modern Indian in Palo Alto

This past week, my colleague and neighbor (and prolific angel investor) Rajeev Motwani suggested that we lunch at a place he'd tried and liked, the newly opened Junnoon restaurant in downtown Palo Alto.  Neighborhood historians will recall that this particular location, 150 University Avenue (at High, across from Miyake) has been a bit star-crossed of late.  After hosting the gut-busting all-you-can eat sushi smorgasbord Minokichi for many years, the site has recently been the home of a couple of short-lived Asian restaurants.  After enjoying a great lunch there, I'm hopeful that Junnoon is here to stay.

According to the restaurant, junnoon is a word in Hindi and Urdu which means "passion, energy, obsession"  and reflects a desire to leverage the best of California's fresh produce to create inventive renditions of Indian cuisine.  The interior is stylish and modern, very nicely done.

Amongst Indian restaurants in Palo Alto, Junoon is intermediate between the traditional style turned out by places such as Darbar and Hyderabad House, and the "Indian influenced" California cuisine one finds at Mantra.  With Rajeev's encouragement, I tried two dishes I'd never had before (I was generally pleased that many of the dishes were unfamiliar): Sprouted Mung Bean "Chaat" salad, and Junoon Chicken Kaathi Roll.  Both were delicious.  The salad had complex flavors with a pleasant fiery kick, healthy yet tasty.  The Bakarkhani bread on which it was served was a bit too heavy for my taste, though.  The Kaathi Roll, billed as a house specialty, was a successful marriage between a pan-fried, egg-crusted paratha (soft bread), rolled around chicken tikka and mint chutney.  A match made in heaven!

Junnoon
150 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 329-9644

The Last Person in America to Start Blogging?

Actually, I just checked with my mom this morning and confirmed that she's not yet blogging, so I guess I'm not quite the last person to start blogging.  Why blog?  This is truly a case of "the journey is the destination"...I am interested to blog for the sake of blogging.  I read blogs daily, as do almost everybody I know, and after hearing for so long about the joys of blogging, I feel as if I'm missing out on something.  Sort of like a few of my friends who, in 1995, still didn't have an email account (you know who you are!).

I decided that the best way to overcome inertia and launch a blog was to pick a topic that I would find enjoyable and effortless to write about.  Hence food, one of life's great pleasures as far as I'm concerned.  I will ramble on about my foodie moments experienced in the restaurants and markets in and around my home of Palo Alto, and occasionally beyond.

I'm also interested to use my blog to experience the cool technologies produced by some of the smart people I know such as Scott Rafer.  If you have a blog, check out MyBlogLog.  Also Manish Chandra has a very interesting thing going at Kaboodle, which allows effortless construction of pages consisting of graphical, annotated bookmarks to interesting web sites of your choosing.  Kaboodle offers a badge that you can pop onto your blog to give you access to a Kaboodle page.