Current mood:	reluctant
Current music:	Jeff Buckley, 'Grace'

(Incipient) Scrabble Words in My Tummy: ZA


Doggie-bag from new restaurant "Za", originally uploaded by verbalobe.

I was sad when the innovative neighborhood restaurant Blue Moon closed a month or two ago. They had a great little wine list, and white paper tablecloths you could draw on with the color crayons they provided. My favorite dish there was a Curry Fettuccine -- not something I would ever have thought of.

They've been replaced by a new place called "Za." The menu retains the nice wines and a few good beers, but for food offers exactly two categories: Pizza, and Salad. No dessert, no appetizers, no bread brought to the table.

I wasn't sure this would be interesting enough, but last night I checked it out. I plan to return. Both the salad and pizza lists consisted of few but fantastic choices of gourmet concoctions, with attention paid to fresh, local farm ingredients, and interesting taste combinations.

Today I am eating leftovers of the feta, roast garlic, and chanterelle mushroom "za." Mmmmmm.

In other store-name news...

The bright blue awning that remains lit late into the night and helps mark the turn down my street, belongs to a signmaker's shop. The business name that blazes out from this awning is "Vital Signs" -- complete with a jagged little logo resembling a heart's pulse on an EKG.

My daughter considers this a little alarming, and thus not a successful naming. I can't say I disagree.