Esselon Cafe, Hadley

Before I write about all the great food I ate this past weekend, I want to go back a few more days to Esselon Cafe in Hadley.  I met friends there for dinner on Wednesday.  It’s a funky little space with cool tin ceilings.

You order at the counter and seat yourself but that’s where the casual eats vibe ends.  The food they are serving at Esselon is top notch and as JBo, aka killercoconut said, everything there is done with love.  The service is excellent and they make sure you are taken care of.  We started off very well with this dip and fresh made pitas:

I believe this was a spinach and bean dip, not really sure, doesn’t really matter.  What is important here is that it was warm and delicious and the pitas were soft and addictive.  It didn’t take long until we requested more pitas since we devoured the first plateful in no time flat.

We’re shaking things up this month as Margaret gets into the action and poses with her food with Jennifer Myszkowski.  They had so much food joy it  just had to be shared!!  Jennifer and I both enjoyed the falafel sandwiches with more pita, yay!  The falafel was outstanding.  It was perfectly crisp on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside.  The tzatzki sauce was a lovely accompaniment.  Margaret had the roasted portabello sandwich, which looked crazy good with sauteed spinach, roasted red peppers, aioli and balsamic onion jam.

And because Jennifer and Margaret are so awesome, they also ordered a side of pommes frites for the table.  And why, yes – I do think they definitely deserve a higher falootin’ name than French fries – these were perfect shoestring specimens – light and crisp and not too greasy and served with tasty aioli and tomato relish for dipping.  Fancy!

Pat enjoyed a Thai curry dish that she said definitely wasn’t like traditional Thai but that was okay anyway – its deliciousness obscured its authenticness.  (Yes, I know authenticness probably isn’t really a word, but I liked it better than deliciousnicity.  Or maybe not.)

JBo herself enjoyed this amazing looking pizza of the day that featured chorizo and gorgeous looking mass quantities of melted cheese.

We had to finish the night with coffees, teas and desserts and they even make those fancy fun designs with the cream.  Lovely! 

Up next – travels to Connecticut featuring a food pose tribute photo!  Stay tuned.