Cha Cha Cha

It’s been a while since I’ve put something up on here, so I thought I’d write a quick story about the date Diana and I had on Saturday.

We had tried to go see Ozomatli earlier that day at some big radio station concert, but it was a big CF from the beginning. We went the wrong way once we got down to the piers, then we saw the line to get into the show was at least a mile long, no exaggeration. The doors were at 4, Ozomatli was supposed to go on at 4:30, and there was no way we were gonna catch the band waiting in that line. So we abandoned our tickets and made our way back to our place, a little tired and a little grumpy.

We decided that we’d go out and eat at a restaurant in The Upper Haight called Cha Cha Cha. It was a nice tapas joint that had a cool ambiance about it and was absolutely packed. Getting a table was going to be a wait of about 45 minutes, but then the host told us that we could belly up to the bar and eat there with a minimal wait. We considered our options and our growling stomachs and chose option B.

The bar was staffed by two very efficient, likeable servers. We ordered a large pitcher of sangria that was really good, and ended up packing a bit of a punch. The sangria at Cha Cha Cha is a well known staple, it was swimming with apples, pears, oranges and grapes and was a perfect drink for our meal.

Our first item to come out of the kitchen was a delicious seviche salad. The shrimp, scallops and calamari were all very fresh and the lime juice was fresh squeezed and made for a nice start to the meal.

Next up was a tapas staple, mushrooms. These were just the right size so they weren’t too woody or stiff. They were tender, buttery and seasoned with fresh herbs. Just a great dish overall.

The following dish was jerk chicken. This one was my favorite due to the combination of the fall-off-the-bone chicken and the sauce which had a nice level of heat. It was just spicy enough, but not so overpowering that it would ruin the flavors of the seviche or the mushrooms. Served on a bed of fluffy jasmine rice, I could have had this alone and been happy.

To top off the meal we had a nice coconut flan that was sweet, sticky and a perfect end to dinner. We finished off the last of our sangria, tipped out our servers, and made our way into the chilly evening and down a few blocks to The Gold Cane.

The Gold Cane reminds me of a NE MPLS bar, with a decent jukebox, cheap drinks and a stuffed moose head on the wall. The old Irish bartender that is always there was in a great mood (perhaps because he drinks on the job) as always. Diana grabbed us a 22 oz. cider and a bourbon ginger ale which ended up being an affordable $8. In the meantime, I bullied the jukebox and played tons of Aggrolites, Against Me, Bouncing Souls and Dropkick Murphys. We ended up making friends with a couple of other drunk Irishmen who enjoyed changing the lyrics of Pogues songs to make fun of each other or other bar patrons.

It was a great way to salvage what had started off as a difficult day.