Small plates.

Some dining trends couldn’t come and go fast enough (i.e., the low-carb diet – why on earth would THAT ever be a good idea??). But some make perfect sense, and the fact that they might actually fall out of vogue someday upsets me. One in particular is the “small plates” dining experience. I LOVE it. I first experienced “tapas” style dining in Amsterdam,  just about 10 years ago. We ordered many things, sampled and shared them all, and it was not only a great way to be exposed to a larger variety of native cuisine, but gosh darn it, it was fun! And when we were done, I didn’t feel like my pants were about to burst. I would say that this was my very first foray into the world of small indulgences.

Flash forward to this past weekend. I went out to dinner at a restaurant in town called Zahav. It was abfab – one of the best restaurants I’ve been to in some time. Definitely moved up into the top three of all time, along with Sagami (where I will be dining later this week) and Le Peep (which I never get to go to anymore, because it’s so far away, sniff sniff).  It was also all small plates. We opted for one of the tasting menus, which started us off with hummus (my fave food in the whole world) and salatim, which was like a tower of mini salads.

salatim: tower of power.

They were all fresh and unique, and there were no leftovers when we were finished. Even our entrees were small family-style plates, and to top off the edible exquisiteness, were perfectly sized small indulgence-worthy desserts!!

There was, however, just one problem – apparently it is possible to over-indulge in small indulgences. In this case, it was worth it.

small indulgences at their finest.