Oo La La on the Ambiance, Meh Breakfast. Cafe Oo La La- Stamford, CT

Last week when I was on a *minor* shopping spree for home decor, I happened past Cafe Oo La La in the Ridgeway Shopping Center on Summer Street. A cute little cafe with glass doors that open up to the sidewalk. Cafe tables and chairs spread about. A beautiful, long case with salads, sandwiches, baked goods, and yummy looking gelato on display. Modern, but quaint decor. A nice menu written on chalkboards for that authentic touch. The perfect setting for a lazy weekend breakfast or a nice little lunch date with friends, coworkers or your significant other.

After seeing how adorable the place was and reading some positive reviews online, we were really excited to go there Saturday morning for breakfast and to catch up on weeks of blog posts with their free WiFi! (bad bloggers, bad.) We found a table next to the holy grail, an outlet! For a cafe with free WiFi, they certainly are cheap on the outlets with only one. But, it’s not about that after all, right?

I walked up to the counter to browse the menu and placed my order. I asked the young woman behind the counter what came with the omelettes, to which she replied bread. I asked if you can order a side of potatoes, which I had to repeat 3 times because she didn’t understand English well. Finally a young man came by and answered my question. Yes, it does come with potatoes. I then asked her what comes with the eggs any style. Nothing she says. I said nothing? Nope. Can I get it with potatoes? No. Ok, what can I get it with? Nothing. Ummm ok. Her male colleague comes back and informs me I can get them with anything I would like. So, I suppose they don’t train their employees very well and that is a huge pet peeve of mine. Luckily, however, when they brought our plates out the order was correct so they earned some points back.

The meal looked very good. I ordered the Greek omelette with multi-grain toast, Danny had his favorite, the farmer’s omelette also with multi-grain toast and we shared some bacon. The highlight of the meal was the bacon. It was nice and crispy, cooked just how we like it. The highlights pretty much end there. The multi-grain toast was tough and definitely not fresh baked. Plus, they gave us ice cold butter that was solid, I know that’s such a silly thing but it’s another little pet peeve. When you give butter for bread, it needs to be softened. The potatoes were cooked well, but boring and bland. It was like they took frozen hash browns, threw them on a skillet, pressed them down with a turner and slapped them on a plate. The coffee was very weak and watery, blah! I couldn’t even finish it. And lastly, but not leastly (leastly? yeah, whatever), we have the omelettes. The ingredients did seem fresh, which is great, but the eggs weren’t fluffy and it was just very bland. The eggs almost tasted microwaved, though I’m sure they weren’t.

Overall, the meal wasn’t awful or disgusting by any means, but in the words of beloved hipsters, it was pretty “meh.” We are definitely willing to give it another shot for lunch because we have heard good things and because the ambiance is quite nice, but we wouldn’t got back for breakfast for sure.

Noms: 2.75 (but we’ll reevaluate when we go back for lunch)

Cost: $$

Cafe Oo La La 

Adress: 2325 Summer Street
Stamford, CT 06905-4525
Phone: (203) 353-3300

http://www.cafeoolala.com/ 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cafe-OoLaLa/197883960239869 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/cafeoolala 

Farm-to-table dining, unexpected atmosphere – Farmer’s Table, New Canaan

When you walk into Farmer’s Table on 21 Forest Street in New Canaan, it doesn’t look like much… and I kinda like it that way. An open kitchen, butcher block style tables with flickering candles, and even a refrigerated case makes you wonder:  is it a market? A cafe? A fine-dining establishment? Well, the answer is sort of all of the above.  And, being a design minimalist, I can appreciate that ambiguity.

Upon arriving we were immediately greeted by co-owner Lucia. And what a gracious host she was. Warm and incredibly friendly, Lucia introduced us to her partner, Robert Ublaldo, former chef at Tequila Mockingbird, and told us all about their restaurant, and more importantly, the story of their ingredients. Man, I love it when food comes with a story, don’t you?

As farm-to-table obviously implies, much of the ingredients are hand-delivered fresh that week, even that day.  Most of the vegetables come from Robert’s very own farm in Pound Ridge and many of the meats (notably, the Berkshire pigs) come from his brother, John Ublaldo’s farm, John Boy’s Farm, in Cambridge, NY. And, of course, because they aim to source as many of their ingredients as possible from area farms, their menu has been known to change on a whim. So what you see here today, may not be there tomorrow. Ooo, I love surprises!

The menu is small, with no specific type of food dominating. Despite the limited selection, Danny and I had a very hard time choosing between the pork tacos, chicken quesadillas, angus burger, and duck, which all had a very unique twist or two to them. Ultimately, I landed on the angus burger and Danny, the pork tacos (after a VERY strong recommendation from Amy, our super-friendly waitress).

Before we dove into the main course however, we were given a sample of their “famous” butternut squash soup. We both thoroughly enjoyed the soup’s warm undertones of brown sugar and honey with a punch of spiciness from the nutmeg. Next up was some soft and gooey freshly-baked bread made by Robert himself just minutes before.  And lastly, before the feature presentation, a deliciously fresh mixed greens salad topped with beets, tomatoes, walnuts, and my favorite food in the whole world, goat cheese. Not too much of any thing, nor to little, it was the perfect salad. Now, onto the main course. My angus burger was very fresh, perfectly cooked, and topped with incredibly smooth and sharp Vermont Cheddar cheese, between what seemed to be freshly-baked buns.  My only disappointment was that I think the burger could have been more seasoned… actually, it didn’t seem seasoned at all which made what could’ve been the perfect burger, quite bland.

But fret not, because any disappointment the burger brought was completely canceled by trying Danny’s pork tacos. The soft tacos featured fantastically seasoned braised Berkshire pork that melted in my mouth, plump and juicy red and yellow tomatoes, perfectly ripened avocados, lettuce, a twist of lime, and a chipotle sauce on the side that delivered the perfect kick of spice. FANTASTIC! To end the meal, we shared a piece of homemade pumpkin pie that could’ve used a few more spices, but was very creamy and smooth, topped with fresh-made whipped cream, served with just ground and brewed coffee.

The combination of almost perfect food, attentive, kind, and welcoming service, much lower than expected prices, and a quaint atmosphere add up to a total score of 3.75 noms. Juuuuust shy of a 4, but with definite potential to be a 4 or higher as they grow and change their menu.

Note: If you’re dining-in, don’t forget to BYOB, there’s a $10 corking fee. We enjoyed a nice bottle of Foxglove 2007 Zinfandel from Paso Robles. The fruitiness from the dark berries, the kick of herbs, and peppery finish made it the perfect complement to our entire meal.

Noms:  3.75

Cost:  $$

Farmer’s Table

Address:  21 Forest Street
New Canaan, CT 06840-4702
Phone:  (203) 594-7890