Amsterdam - the food is better than the last time.

I was expecting - well, not great food. The last time I was in Amsterdam (14 years ago!) it was not something to write home about and the best thing we ate there was a pancake (really like a crepe) which ironically I had trouble finding this time! Anyway - they have completely come about. This time there was so much wonderful ethnic food it was hard to find anything bad! This was a TINY falafel shop called Maoz and I could have eaten there every day. First they hand you a piping hot just out of the fryer few balls of falafel in a warm pita and tell you to fill it up with anything from the bar - it was like topping your sandwich with a salad. Pretty much anything you could think of - the funny thing I noticed was that people would fill up their pita and eat half way down and fill it up again - endless salad bar! Actually that started to gross me out on a germ level (yes, I will admit it I'm a germ-a-phobe) but it all tasted so good I quickly put that out of my mind. Now I see that they have shops in the USA - we so need this in Healdsburg! Seriously - who's open to getting a franchise? We only need a couple million dollars : )

The much sought after pancake. 

Finally - I just want to tell you a little about a restaurant I almost ate at. It's called  De Kas and is in a old greenhouse in Amsterdam. My very dear client gave me the name and I trust her judgement even if she is a vegetarian! We had decided to have our 25th anniversary dinner there but on the train from Bruge to Amsterdam Richard wasn't feeling so great. He's a trooper though so he rallied and we made it to our 7:30 reservation. It was such a beautiful location - first they gave us a little tour of the growing plants and then we sat down and ordered champagne. It's a 3 course prix fix meal so they just started bringing dishes out and he took one bite and looked at me and said "I don't think I'm going to make it." I reached over and felt his forehead and he was burning with fever! As he went to the restroom I called over our waitress to explain that we were going to have to leave and could she bring our check (by now I was on my second glass of wine and had managed to taste at least all of our first course). She said "absolutely not! you don't pay us, you pay a Dr and when you feel better please come back and try us again" Then she kindly brought over some herbal tea that they make in an envelope for us to take back to our hotel. I have to say - she made a horrible situation into one that is truly memorable - and I mean in a good way. So kind and generous - it was really amazing. So, if you are healthy in Amsterdam - DO NOT miss this restaurant - what I did taste was delicious!