Full Moon
Al and Tony went shopping for our 4th of July cookout today, but I'll detail what they bought—lots of "Lori foods," Al says—tomorrow, when we actually eat the stuff. Today I want to talk about the dinner we had at Full Moon, a sophisticated restaurant in Cambridge that caters to families.
I don't think I've ever seen a restaurant with a play area (outside of McDonald's, that is), especially one that also looked like a neighborhood bistro and that served California cuisine. See for yourself:
I had two appetizers: The beet, goat cheese crostini, and arugula salad, and the cod cakes with caper mayonnaise. The former was delicious, with hot/warm beets; personally, I would have preferred the goat cheese sprinkled over the salad rather than on crostini, but the tastes were still absolutely right. The cod cakes exceeded my expectations in both taste and portion size; I was thinking two, and I got three. They were fresh, tasty, and had just the right amount of potato. The Beaner agreed that they were very good.
Al had the carne asada, which I didn't try (since I don't eat meat), and Tony had the penne puttanesca (sp?), which I did (yummy, and probably my choice next time, if I'm in a pasta mood). Maria had a bowl of mussels topped with frites; when I saw it placed in front of her, I wondered how I could have missed such an option on the menu until Tony noted that the dish involved chorizo. I probably saw that word and just skipped over the menu item associated with it, but on a future visit I might ask if I can get the mussels without the chorizo. They looked fabulous.
BigP had a hot dog, fries, and fruit, and the Beaner had quesadillas, fruit, and carrots, both from the kids menu. Both kids ate about half their meals (and as mentioned above, the Beaner ate about half of one of my cod cakes, plus most of the avocado that came with Al's dish), and both drank two sippy cups worth of apple juice mixed with water. (Sippy cups are on the menu (!), though I would just get the Beaner a regular juice next time. He was a bit offended when he was given an actual sippy cup rather than the straw version that we refer to as a sippy cup.)
I went over to the play area with the kids when I was finished eating, where I read Danny and the Dinosaur and a Dr. Seuss book about monkeys and drums twice each, first to a rapt Beaner and BigP, and then to the Beaner, BigP, a little blond boy who was probably just shy of 3, and even the kid who was probably around 6 who was reluctant to share the trains on the Thomas table. The little blond boy practically crawled into my lap he was so enchanted with my reading skillz. (I admit I step it up a bit when there's hope of drawing an audience of slack-jawed toddlers.)
Dessert was the only disappointment at Full Moon. Al loved his apple crisp with ice cream, but I didn't love my warm chocolate pudding cake. It was OK, but a little burn-y tasting around the edges. Next time I'll try the maple bread pudding.
Overall, it was a delightful meal, and the kid-friendly atmosphere was incredible. For those not dining with children, here's a tip: Most of the families are gone by 8pm. :-)