The Ryans

The last time I ate with Ryan was in New York. She had taken Karen and me to a great Japanese restaurant not too far from her place with killer sake cocktails. That was almost a year ago.

She was back in town this weekend and we met up with some of her other Berkeley alum friends at Ti Couz for dinner. Ti Couz is one of those places that everyone talks about as being fabulous and I’d always felt more than slightly lame for not getting around to eat there sooner, especially working just blocks away from it for so long. But, the hankering for a Ti Couz crepe just never struck me.

I read the laminated menu and discovered directions for ordering. Apparently, you’re supposed to have a crepe for every course. It seemed like a lot of crepe. So, I just ordered one, the savory Totale, and a small green salad.

The green salad was a bowl of sweet, crispy, and curly-leafed butter lettuce (a lettuce that doesn’t get the action it deserves, I feel). The dressing that I requested on the side was bright green, slightly tangy, and delicious.

The crepe was large brown square with a gooey-looking orangey liquid on top that tasted like cheese and slightly reminiscent of the Velveta kind you stick in the microwave. The filling in Le Totale was mushroom, tomatoes, and cheese. The buckwheat pancake was heavy and good. A thinner crepe wouldn’t have been able to hold up to the dense, flavorful filling. The mushrooms were rich and creamy along side the cheese. And the bits of diced tomatoes added a nice touch of bright freshness.

After dinner, we walked to a house party where a whole bunch of Google kids chatted each other up. I had a piece of scallop wrapped in bacon (shellfish wrapped in pork it the party hors devours) that one of the hosts circled around the room. Boy Ryan met Girl Ryan, and a scuffle over Odwalla ensued.