So so so, so so so, so so so glad my sparkling sister, Amy finally got me to Jade Kitchen. It's exactly, to a tee, my fave kind of eatery. Cozy, casual & eclectic with a petite, yet KILLER menu. The furniture's IKEA, the decor appears to be local art work, the staff is hip and knowledgable and the owners are oh so cool and friendly.
Then, I see grilled cheese with peaches & pecans listed as a starter and HOLY! Cloud 9! This is not a grilled cheese sandwich. This is that awesome white cheese you can eat all over Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that is durable enough to grill without breading. The peaches were in a cinnamon spicy sauce, warm and drizzled over said grilled cheese, then sprinkled with pecans and OMG. WOW. I could have ordered another & devoured it.
Golden chanterelle mushrooms & STAR-shaped ricotta gnocchi rolled out... and was surprisingly light, so fresh tasting too. Homemade pasta is next to Godliness if you ask me. No sacrilege intended. While I enjoyed these two delectable starters the German was digging into calf brains. They came out of the kitchen looking like an innocent empañada with a lovely little side of raspberries but oh my, once the breading fell off, I saw it. A BRAIN. A real life brain. Gray crevices and all. NOT my thing. The German said it was "light as air".
Yeah, I'll pass. Bring on the less Halloween-ish eats we greedily ordered. I do have a wee confession to make here before I carry on. I was a little fascinated by the brain on his plate. Looked just as one does in photos. But I sure as HELL had no desire to bite into it. NO WAY. Those poor raspberries. Out came another yummy and oh so pretty pasta dish. And the very accommodating chef acquiesced to preparing it sans bacon. THANK YOU! Amy asked for it on the side, perfectly fine with me. It was the ideal proportion for such a creamy dish. And the pumpkin was a much more delightful Halloweeny touch to our meal.
Now you should know, I'm a finicky eater when it comes to the textures of some foods. And beets are one such food. However, the slow roasted beets, pickled onion and goat cheese dish we indulged in, came close to converting me. I made sure to pair each bite of beet up to a smear of warm goat cheese + a pickled onion too at times & wow, YUM.
So yeah, that's the aftermath and somehow, like a complete idiot, I failed to photograph the "tiny sliver of a slice" of pineapple upside down cake Ms. Amy ordered. It was moist and heaven-like. I have to say I'm fine with the fact that they were out of their infamous POP ROCKS chocolate cake. The pineapple cake suited us all just brilliantly. And right about then I would have done anything for a wheelbarrow. I insisted we stroll the street a bit. A street and honestly an area known to be a tad sketchy but I felt absolutely cool to be there, lucky even. Sidewalk tables full of chatting patrons created an extremely warm and inviting atmosphere. You gotta. GOTTA! Give Jade Kitchen a go next time you're in the West Palm Beach area. The menu is said to change often, based on what's fresh. The staff and owners rock. And the atmosphere is charming and unpretentious. I only drank sparkling so I can't speak of the rest of their wine list. I apologize for that. Someone else should go and report back on its offerings. And you know what? They should totally host a tweet up!
