The Joya Luck Club

Good friends, good food, good fun. So I have two wonderful friends that I meet up with every few months. We meet in Palo Alto as it is kind of the mid-point for the three of us and for the past four get-togethers we have gone to Joya Restaurant & Lounge located at the corner of University and Florence in downtown Palo Alto. Joya (pronounced Hoy-a) refers to themselves as "modern latin cuisine". The lounge is our area of choice for dining--comfortable couches with lots of cushions in a modern and well-designed high-ceilinged space. Now onto the food--Joya's bar menu has a fabulous choice of tapas and some of the mot reasonably priced wines (and good tasting wines) by the glass in the Bay Area. I have to say that hands down my favorite dish is the Papas Bravas, but then again I am the girl who has never met a potato that she didn't like. The potatoes are so tender and the spices just the perfect blend with a dollop of creme fraiche sauce less spicy than traditional papas bravas sauce, but a great balance to the dish. So the most recent visit lent itself to some new menu items the Dungeness Crab Cakes and the Grilled Spanish Chicken Skewers. The crab cakes are amazing and come with a delicious ginger chipotle aioli. But I have to admit, we ordered a second plate of the chicken skewers, they were mouth-wateringingly good with four bite-sized pieces of perfectly grilled chicken on each skewer. Another fan favorite of the Joya Luck Club, as we have dubbed ourselves, is the Mexican Empanadas. The pork empanadas are serverd with a green aji sauce and the spinach and cheese ones are served with a mango chili sauce. These tasty tidbits are so good that another friend of mine who doesn't like much that is made with pastry, loved them. The last (but not least) dish I will mention is the Braised Short Rib Tacos served with jicama salsa and horse radish cream. You must try these if you go to Joya, the short rib meat is so tender and the combination of flavors is a brilliant experience for your mouth. I mentioned that they have a great wines by the glass list, but I know I would be leaving something out if I didn't mention the Sangria. They serve a red and a white sangria (peaches are the high-light) and both are delicioso. I usually sit in the lounge but I have also dined in the restaurant which serves the entire tapas menu in addition to entrees. No matter where you chose to sit in Joya, you will enjoy the dining experience. As long as you didn't mind those crazies laughing loudly from The Joya Luck Club, can't wait for the next meeting. Happy Eating!

Feelin' Irie At Coconuts

As an everyday foodie, I am always looking for a good place to eat. I was walking to my car after lunch with one of my "froodies" (friend and fellow foodie) in downtown Palo Alto. We passed by a Caribbean joint called Coconuts at 642 Ramona. This owned and operated by the well-reviewed and much liked Back-A-Yard in Menlo Park another great Caribbean joint. We decided to stop and check-out the menu and figured that any restaurant that serves "Big Tings", "Little Tings" and "Favorite Tings" required a visit. Happy Hour here we come! Now to note, we thought we would meet at 4:30pm for a bit of happy hour. Happy Hour starts at 5:00pm and the restaurant is closed between lunch and dinner, so we hung out and chatted for a bit until the black gate lifted and allowed us entry at 5:00. For those of you who know Palo Alto, this space used to be Hukilau and is across from the police station. So we belly up to the bar for some food and fun. There we met William (from St. Thomas so he knows his Caribbean fare) and not only was he our entertaining bartender, but he is the restaurant and bar supervisor as well. Happy hour is a fine way to spend an hour or two in this place. Draft beers were $2 which included Stella Artois. I know, I know we should have had the Red Stripe and we almost did, but at the last minute we switched our order. We also contemplated indulging in some tropical refreshments from their specialty island drink menu, but beer seemed the right choice with spicy food. Although, we did get a couple of small sample island drinks to try on the house. For happy hour three of the "little tings" were on special 50% off. And as every good foodie does...we ordered them all--Codfish Fritters, Irie Jerk Wings, and Jamaican Mini Patty Sampler. The wings, we, when asked, we ordered spicy and to that note, William gave us a little side dish of habanero sauce so we could kick it up a notch. We learned that they make their own jerk seasoning in house and they were some of the best jerk wings--ever! The Jamaican mini patties came in chicken and beef with a tomatillo catsup. Think of them as Jamaican empanadas and they were delicious--especially the beef ones. We put a little habanero sauce on these to add a little kick as well. Last but not least, were the codfish fritters. The decadent fried balls of fish and batter were very good and the Creole sauce they were served with was excellent on them. We were there on a Tuesday night and it was not too busy allowing us to relax and chat with fellow patrons as well as William. We are told that Thu-Sat nights are packed especially when the steel drum musician plays which I think is on Friday nights. I need to return to this little piece of Caribbean paradise and have some "big tings" and listen to some steel drum music on the patio under the lite-up plastic palm tree.