Mild Spices At Artichoke

From left: mushrooms, baba ghanoush, and hummus msabbaha

It's been a long time since we went for a meal at Artichoke. This isn't a restaurant for everyone, since the owner-chef's identity is completely tied up with it. If the owner's guts and opinions don't sit well with you, then this isn't a restaurant you'll want to support. We have no problems with him or his brand of food. Artichoke's food is extremely agreeable with my stomach.

Ordered a trio of dips to go with bread. Mushrooms with Iraqi spices, fried egg puree and parmesan, baba ghanoush with pomegranate teriyaki and sesame, and hummus msabbaha with tahini, miso and golden raisins. Happy to have these easy dips done well at Artichoke.

We shared mains of crispy veal ribs with padron peppers and zhoug and hot skillet prawns with green harissa, split cream and charred onions. I didn't need more carbs since there was bread. But there were more carbs in the form of couscous. Since I don't care much for couscous, I took only a mouth of the delicious squid ink couscous that came with clams and cuttlefish.

There was an easy bottle of wine at dinner, but we could have a wee bit more alcohol. Hahaha. Dessert came in the form of more carbs- beer. Took a stroll to American Taproom nearby for a pint. Loads of choices on tap, of course. Anderson Valley's black rice dark ale was surprisingly refreshing!