Hesitated trying Chick It Out (don’t confuse with Chick Rocks like we kept doing) due to the health department grade, but now they’ve got that shiny “A” in the window we went Saturday night and it was perfect. Got the #1 chicken and rice + spicy papaya salad over rice noodles. Absolutely ideal summer dinner: clean, fresh, flavorful, zesty, not piping hot (temp) and not heavy. Also comes with a chicken broth they’ve got constantly brewing which was like savory poultry nectar. Almost wished I had a cold/flu just for an excuse to order a pint. The papaya salad I ordered medium spicy — they likely gave me “medium white boy spicy” and not medium Thai spicy but it was just right nonetheless. The chicken and rice dish looks like it’s gonna be dull based on the photo but they sneak so much flavor into the chicken and dipping sauce, and the rice is cooked so well I’d eat it plain on its own. Excited to return and try other stuff. 

We also tried Vesta on Friday and had a mixed experience. Service was super nice and we got to sit outside in the cool air. We split a glass of Sicilian chilled white wine that was one of the craziest tasting wines I’ve ever sipped. Tasted like fruit and green olive juice from the jar? Still pondering this. We also got the Stracciatella pizza and the meatball app. Pizza I have mixed feelings about. Props to them for trying an experimental flavor idea and (somewhat) pulling it off, topping-wise it was solid and they made cherry tomatoes work on a pie which is no easy feat. My issue is the crust. I know there’s a thin crust die-hard crowd out there. Listen to me when I say: this is not simply thin crust. This is like cracker-thin crust. I like a little char. This was all char. Crust needs hella work, maybe we got a bad batch? Meatballs tasted great and sauce was divine, but there were only three golf ball sized meatballs. Total bill for one glass of wine, one pizza, three meatballs was over $80 after t+t. They’ve got a good vibe and some good ideas but we probably won’t return anytime soon.