Restaurant Review: Mas (in Charlottesville)

My dad and step-mom took us to experience the restaurant Mas (a tapas restaurant) while we were staying with them last week. Mas Tapas is located in a quiet neighborhood south of downtown Charlottesville. It was a neighborhood that I have never been to, so it was fun to experience a new area. When we arrived it was drizzling outside, but inside the restaurant was bustling with people and food. Even thought we arrived at 7pm on a Wednesday, there was still a wait for tables. After we put our names on the waiting list, we promptly ordered some of their exciting cocktails and decided to brave the weather on the outside patio.

The sky was dark grey and it looked like it may open up at any minute, but we lucked out with our drinks on the patio. The rain waited. The girls ordered basil gimlets and the guys ordered classic mojitos and margaritas. We were all very impressed. I particularly liked the fluorescent color of my gimlet along with the not-too-sweet flavor. It was just right.

Just about the time that we finished our drinks, our table was ready. It was the right amount of waiting and we were definitely ready for food. The restaurant was dark, candle lit, and well decorated. We were sat at a huge table, but there was no complaining from us since we were happy to get a table before the rain came.

The menu was paper so that we could check off our tapas selections. We had fun eating olives and making our selections while getting excited for food. After turning in our menu, the food came quite quickly. First one tapas dish, then another, and another. Soon our table was full. With each item came more bread. We had a nice bread pile in the center of the table, and unfortunately we did not eat most of it due to an abundance in everything else.

I was surprised at the amount of seafood on the tapas menu. In fact, I feel like we ordered most of it. I love tapas and have been to quite a few tapas restaurants, but this one definitely exceeded my expectations in the seafood department. Along with the seafood that we ordered, we had a variety of roasted vegetables, cheeses, and breads. We could have done a better job with balancing they types of foods that we ordered, but the seafood all looked so good.

By the end of dinner we were stuffed. We even had to have our waitress hold off on the last group of tapas because we were just too full. Unfortunately because we were so full we also did not order dessert. The dessert and wine menu looked fantastic, so I am thinking that will be a separate trip on its own. All in all Mas was a wonderful delicious experience. I would recommend it to anyone in the Charlottesville area.

Au Coquelet Cafe

Last week Andy and I were in Berkeley to get the oil changed in our car and we decided to grab lunch while we waited. We walked up the main street, University Ave., which we are becoming very familiar with, and found Au Coquelet Cafe.

The first part of the restaurant is a walk-up cafe where you can order cappuccinos and decadent pastries. Oh the pastries, they looked so good! How could a person choose only one? But alas, we were there for lunch, so we continued past the cafe into the restaurant.

The restaurant was very casual and decorated with plenty of fresh greenery and plants. We felt like we were sitting outdoors, it was lovely. Since it was a French restaurant we couldn't pass up the french onion soup as a starter. And let me tell you, it was amazing french onion soup! The cheese was full and stringy, the broth warm and filled with soft onions, and it was served with hard crusted french bread for dipping. Amazing.

For the main course I had a salad and a pastrami swiss on rye sandwich. I wish I had taken a better picture of the sandwich because it was chock full of pastrami and swiss all melted together. It was delicious, and far more than I could eat, so it was a win for leftovers!

We enjoyed Au Coquelet for a drop-in lunch. The service was quick, the food was amazing, and the location is convenient in downtown Berkeley. We have been enjoying Berkeley a lot these days, it seems to fit us better than Oakland. We live in Oakland after all though, so we'll just save Berkeley for occasional weekend visits.

If you find yourself in the area and want to check it out: Au Coquelet Cafe, 2000 University Avenue, Berkeley, CA 9470.