lavomatic

being way behind the times, i finally made it to lavomatic for a late lunch/early dinner with some girlfriends. the patio was relaxing and lovely for a leisurely meal.

it took me some time to decide what to order as everything sounded appealing. i finally settled on the double decker with turkey, guyere cheese, and aioli.the bread was fantastic. it was crusty without being difficult to bite or chew and had a slight honey flavor. the greens were fairly fresh. the rest of the sandwich, however, was a disappointment. the turkey was nothing special (said on the menu it was smoked, but i wasn't tasting it) and the aioli was more like mediocre mayonnaise. and the cheese - cheese should make everything taste better, but the edges of my guyere were translucent and hard, like it had been left out of the fridge too long. it was kind of sweaty, too. overall, i guess it was fine, although i don't know if i would have been more discriminating if i wasn't starving.

dessert was better. several options caught my eye (i'm totally a sugar whore), but the pineapple upside down cake won the sweet tooth battle. great balance of sweetness and crispy edged cake. it can't be seen in the photo, but paired with the cake and ice cream was an apple compote-like sidecar, which i didn't understand and didn't feel added anything to the dish.

for a restaurant offering such a cool, hip image, the experience was merely ordinary. what was particularly telling for me was the lack of attention to detail. not only was my cheese questionable and sandwich sloppily made, the lime wedge in my water seemed to be left from the previous night's bar stock and could not be coaxed to release juice. is it so much to ask for a fresh lime?