Cafe 118

Last night I went on a dinner date to Cafe 118 in Winter Park, FL, which features "Living Cuisine". Everything they serve is organic, mostly local, and raw. They also have a great sounding juice and smoothie bar in addition to innovative entrees and desserts.

One of my quirks is that I always check out menus ahead of time and pick out what I think I want. Well, when I first looked at this menu, one item jumped out to me: beet ravioli. So, without hesitation, that is just what I ordered.


Beet ravioli with macadamia nut ricotta and a pear wine sauce.


The salad had a lovely light dressing that I couldn't quite identify.

This was DELICIOUS. I've only ever had golden beets so I was hesitant to try their red relatives, but I loved every single bite of these babies. I loved them so much that I was scraping my plate with the fork to get every last bite. It was light, slightly sweet and fruity, and the macadamia nut cheese was DIVINE.


My date's entree was vegetable lasagna with sundried tomatoes, herb pesto and macadamia nut ricotta.

Unfortunately I didn't get a good picture of this or a picture of the beautiful pesto on the other side of the plate. I tried a bite which was mostly comprised of said pesto and it was also delicious. The pesto had amazing flavor and the dish was robust.

Then came my favorite part, dessert. I couldn't decide between s'mores or ice cream, so we got both.


S'mores and cacao mint ice cream


The "marshmallow" is actually made from the marshmallow root!

Approximately one millisecond after taking my first bite of this I repeated "Oh my God" about ten times. It was incredible! I've been craving a s'more for the longest time and this fulfilled that craving and then some. The flavor was spot on and once again, I was scraping the plate with my fork. I would drive an hour to come here and get this dessert every day if I could.


I don't know how they did it (should have asked) but this tastes better than any mint chocolate chip ice cream I've ever had. It was creamy, minty, and...chocolatey. The chocolate chunks were surprisingly soft and chewy, but I actually liked that. I want to go back and try all of the other flavors (hello, cherry chocolate chip and banana almond butter cup!). I want to go here and order every dessert on the menu and just engorge myself. Actually, I'd probably love just about anything they serve. This was hands down the best restaurant meal I've had in a long time, if not ever.


I also liked my dress for the evening.

This morning I woke up and made another SIAB with hemp protein powder my date brought me. Yes, most guys bring flowers, maybe some chocolate, but my dates bring me protein powder. I love it.



In the mix:
- 1 handful kale
- 1 frozen nanner
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1 tbsp hemp protein powder
- 1/2 tbsp ground flax
- 1/2 tsp vanilla

Toppings:
- 1/3 cup granola
- 1/2 tbsp flax
- Blob 'o almond butta

One word to describe everything in this post: deeeelicious (minus the dress, that's inedible).