Today I went out with the Girls (aka my other 3 lunch/dinner educator gal pals). The venue of choice? Just Fabulous is located in the cute neighborhood of Kensington on Adams Avenue....right next to the sign! We had been there last year for dessert around the time of my birthday. I've been twice more for desserts as well, but never for lunch. So this time, we went for the food!
We arrived 10 minutes prior to 1 pm (which is when they begin serving lunch). They serve brunch from 8 - 12 (or was it 1?) noon. This photo was taken at 3 when we left! We were fortunate to find parking right across the street, next to the library.
In case you haven't figured it out, when you click on their website, you will see that it's just the catering home page. However, on the left side bar is a box that says Just Fabulous Kensington. Click on that and you will see their menu (I don't think it's updated).
The restaurant is small and cozy and very bright with a citrus sherbet color scheme complete with fanciful ornaments dangling from the light fixtures.
The coffee/tea bar area:
We were seated at a spacious corner banquette by the front window:
A refreshing cucumber slice in their water:
One of the gals (a high school AP) started off with the clam chowder. This soup cup is also the same one they use for serving their coffee and tea! Huuge!
She ordered the Crunchy Coconut Shrimp appetizer which was served on a bed of rice noodles, slivers of onion, cucumber and carrot. The dressing was some sort of tangy vinaigrette while the sauce on the bottom resembled that sweet and spicy chili sauce used for chicken. You know, the thick kind with big flakes of chili pepper.
We all made our selections. This was the above friend's entree, Kobe Beef Bolognese, which had carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes served over linguine with fresh grated parmesan cheese.
Our other companion (a Junior High Teacher) ordered the Portabello Mushroom Panini which had roasted red pepper, eggplant, tomatoes, some sort of tapenade (this description is verbatim from the menu and I cannot read the writing in the photo I took),
We all made our selections. This was the above friend's entree, Kobe Beef Bolognese, which had carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes served over linguine with fresh grated parmesan cheese.
Our other companion (a Junior High Teacher) ordered the Portabello Mushroom Panini which had roasted red pepper, eggplant, tomatoes, some sort of tapenade (this description is verbatim from the menu and I cannot read the writing in the photo I took),
and a chevre basil pesto. It was served with a spring salad mix and pomme frites (olive oil and fresh herbes).
I ordered 2 items with the intent to share. The first item was a salad, the Pan Seared Boat Scallops(with just 4 scallops to be exact) which were served with spring mix, jicama (spelled incorrectly as 'jicima' on the menu), watercress, rice noodles, and Thai vinaigrette.
Here's a close up of the pan seared scalloped, garnished with slivers of red bell pepper and a sauce (perhaps aoli?):
My second item was the Kobe Beef Burger (cooked medium rare). It had a roasted roma tomato in there as well as grilled onions. The beef patty was so tender and juicy, I ended up eating just the meat and hardly any of the bun. Well, I did eat just the bottom part of the bun that soaked up the juices! This was served with a tiny bit of spring salad and pommes frites and aoli. Sorry the picture is kind of dark.
Our other friend (an Elementary School teacher) ordered the Seared Ahi Club Sandwich. As you can see, the ahi was seared just right and left rare in the middle. A couple of slices of nice and thick applewood smoked bacon rested on top of the ahi, crowned with the herbed goat cheese. There were also baby spinach leaves and roasted peppers in the sandwich which was ciabatta bread. Here it is sans the top part of the sandwich.
One of our companions was brave enough to take photos of the bathroom another had admired it's decor earlier. She marveled at the fact that a urinal was included in the unisex bathroom. We agreed that this was actually a good idea so that men won't screw up the toilet with their stinky pee. When I used the bathroom, someone left the seat up (I assume a man). Uh...there's a urinal in there, why couldn't he have used it?
Our first bathroom user also liked the continuation of the restaurant's theme decor IN the bathroom, so bathroom user #2 took this shot. The tile border was also handmade for this place. Although you cannot see it, it was signed and dated by the artist in 2003.
The cool granite sink:
Desserts were still in order. Several of us had tea and coffee. Here is my friend's French Press filled with vanilla tea. You could see the tiny Dickinson's honey jar.
Okay, this was my dessert. This is like one of the desserts I had last year, but instead of calling this a 'bombe', it was described as a Tropical Chocolate 'Dome' which was a layer of ganache drapped over a dense chocolate filling with a surprise center of passionfruit, mango and banana. Garnished with slabs of dark chocolate on the sides and gold leaf on top, this dessert was also dusted with chocolate shavings and fresh berries. One the side was a chocolate sorbet served in a tuile cookie cup.
The other desserts were this carrot cake filled with rum, walnuts and pinapple (luckily no raisins):
along with a lemon curd tart served with a lemon sorbet:
and the last dessert was the "Sunset Kiss" which were layers of raspberry, mango and white chocolate mousse with raspberry gelee on top.
A cross section of the Sunset Kiss. The texture was velvety smooth and not as soft as I thought it would be. We picked at each other's desserts. I liked this one best of all.
I ordered 2 items with the intent to share. The first item was a salad, the Pan Seared Boat Scallops(with just 4 scallops to be exact) which were served with spring mix, jicama (spelled incorrectly as 'jicima' on the menu), watercress, rice noodles, and Thai vinaigrette.
Here's a close up of the pan seared scalloped, garnished with slivers of red bell pepper and a sauce (perhaps aoli?):
My second item was the Kobe Beef Burger (cooked medium rare). It had a roasted roma tomato in there as well as grilled onions. The beef patty was so tender and juicy, I ended up eating just the meat and hardly any of the bun. Well, I did eat just the bottom part of the bun that soaked up the juices! This was served with a tiny bit of spring salad and pommes frites and aoli. Sorry the picture is kind of dark.
Our other friend (an Elementary School teacher) ordered the Seared Ahi Club Sandwich. As you can see, the ahi was seared just right and left rare in the middle. A couple of slices of nice and thick applewood smoked bacon rested on top of the ahi, crowned with the herbed goat cheese. There were also baby spinach leaves and roasted peppers in the sandwich which was ciabatta bread. Here it is sans the top part of the sandwich. 
One of our companions was brave enough to take photos of the bathroom another had admired it's decor earlier. She marveled at the fact that a urinal was included in the unisex bathroom. We agreed that this was actually a good idea so that men won't screw up the toilet with their stinky pee. When I used the bathroom, someone left the seat up (I assume a man). Uh...there's a urinal in there, why couldn't he have used it?
Our first bathroom user also liked the continuation of the restaurant's theme decor IN the bathroom, so bathroom user #2 took this shot. The tile border was also handmade for this place. Although you cannot see it, it was signed and dated by the artist in 2003.
The cool granite sink:
Desserts were still in order. Several of us had tea and coffee. Here is my friend's French Press filled with vanilla tea. You could see the tiny Dickinson's honey jar.
Okay, this was my dessert. This is like one of the desserts I had last year, but instead of calling this a 'bombe', it was described as a Tropical Chocolate 'Dome' which was a layer of ganache drapped over a dense chocolate filling with a surprise center of passionfruit, mango and banana. Garnished with slabs of dark chocolate on the sides and gold leaf on top, this dessert was also dusted with chocolate shavings and fresh berries. One the side was a chocolate sorbet served in a tuile cookie cup.
The other desserts were this carrot cake filled with rum, walnuts and pinapple (luckily no raisins):
along with a lemon curd tart served with a lemon sorbet:
and the last dessert was the "Sunset Kiss" which were layers of raspberry, mango and white chocolate mousse with raspberry gelee on top.
A cross section of the Sunset Kiss. The texture was velvety smooth and not as soft as I thought it would be. We picked at each other's desserts. I liked this one best of all.
It was quite fun going out to lunch with these particular friends since we hadn't been out for lunch or dinner since late last year. Our last get together was when I held the parol making workshop at my place in December. Although we tried to do it monthly, all of us had too many things going on with work and our families. So this time, with Spring Break looming ahead of us, it was a perfect and relaxing time for us to catch up on the latest at our sites and with the goings on in our lives.
2 comments:
My friend and I have only eaten here twice for their desserts. When we saw their lunch and dinner menu, its something we just may consider.
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