mussels with cream

(image from flickr through creative commons license)

back in LA, on a monday night... the family went out to a french bistro in silver lake called, actually i don't remember what it's called right now. *update: the place is called cafe stella* but they had a classic bistro menu. i had the braised beef, which was good, but really nothing exceptional. but my sister had steamed mussels in a white wine, butter and cream broth. up until that day i had never had it with a creamy broth and while at first i thought it wouldn't work with the mussels, the cream added a smoother richness to the broth (which with wine and butter isn't exactly skimping on the richness department). overall the mussels were delicious and it didn't hurt that it came with a side of pomme frites drizzled with truffle oil.

after dinner we walked a few blocks to a gelato place, pazzo gelato, and had orange, espresso and vanilla. they had guinness gelato which was amazing, but a bit too overpowering after a big dinner.