Barbarossa Coffee at Gosling and Spring Stuebner

We stopped in to this new location for brunch. We had a honey latte, Turkish coffee and Vietnamese coffee to drink. Got a beef roll and a parfait for brunch food.

The honey latte was quite tasty, and we always enjoy the latte art. The Turkish coffee was powerful as expected. I sometimes take cream and sugar, but a high-quality strong coffee has a bit of sweetness on its own and this delivered--I didn't need sugar. The Vietnamese coffee disappointed a bit. We generally get these as a sweet drink. But this version wasn't made with the usual condensed milk. It tasted like regular milk, not really sweet at all. Maybe something went wrong there.

The food experience was mixed as well. The yogurt parfait stood out for the freshness of the strawberries. It's a nice generous serving with plenty of fruit and granola. The beef roll was well executed--the pastry was perfect, flaky and delicious. But it's plain hamburger scattered through a pastry, not really much seasoning and a lower ratio of beef to pastry than I expected. Kind of boring, I would not get it again.

I love the vibe of Barbarossa Coffee--the decor is modern but not obtrusive, and the furniture is practical and comfortable. It's a great place to relax. I know they can do better on the food and coffee. I'm glad we have one near us now.

My Yelp Review

Dirty Dough

I saw this was open in our neighborhood and we stopped in for a lunch dessert. We got a shake, an ice cream and cookie, and four cookies to take away.

The shake is a cookie blended with ice cream and milk. You get two choices for ice cream, I got chocolate, and your choice of cookie (I got Cookies and Cream). The chocolate syrup drizzle inside the shake cup was a nice touch. The ice cream and cookie are blended to a smooth consistency and finished with whipped cream. It was a sweet, tasty shake. Gave me a pretty good sugar buzz.

Dirty Ice Cream is ice cream layered with a cookie in a cup. We got a Puppy Chow cookie with vanilla. Overall pretty good, though the cookie was kind of firm and it was a bit hard to get it out of the cup. I don't think this would be an issue with any other kind of cookie.

Our four to take home were chocolate chip, Reverse, a Brookie, and Puppy Chow. They had a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie on the menu but it wasn't available. The base cookies are baked ahead and decorated after you order. Mostly the cookies were really, really sweet. I could pick out the peanut butter and caramel flavors but sweet dominated. Dirty Dough is very up front about what kind of cookie you will get--it's going to be soft and gooey in the center, like cookie dough. I like my cookies crisp personally, but I know that soft ones are more trendy.

This is a strictly take-out place--there's no public restroom and just a couple of small tables where you can wait for your order. Service was fine. The cookies are over $4 each, and for that price they have to blow me away. For me that didn't happen, but if you like that kind of cookie you will like these.

My Yelp Review

Vido's Pizza

We enjoy checking out what's new at the Plaza De Los Food Trucks. The other night we got our dinner from the new pizza truck, Vido's Pizza. We got 3 pizzas--a pepperoni with added jalapenos, a veggie pizza, and a custom pizza with anchovies, onions and their green sauce. I got a lemon tea to drink while I waited for the pizzas.

The sauces need some explaining. It appears that all the pizzas come with their tomato sauce. You can add the green sauce (mayo, cilantro, black pepper, salt and lime) or the poppers sauce (jalapeno popper ingredients--jalapenos, cream cheese, bacon (prosciutto), and black pepper).

They have one size of pizza, which is comparable to a medium from other places. The crust is tasty and filling so one pizza will at least feed two, three if they get sides. They also have salads, which we did not try.

The pepperoni with jalapeno was a good representation, with tasty crust and plenty of pepperoni. The jalapenos made it spicy but not too spicy. Very good. Their ovens give the pizza a nice char on the bottom for added flavor.

The veggie pizza has lots of different standard veggies but you'll notice the arugula--they give you plenty, right on top. It's an attractive pizza and very tasty. Like most veggie pizzas it was pretty wet--the vegetables release a lot of water in cooking.

Anchovies are an unusual ingredient on pizzas these days. They raise strong feelings as well as a strong flavor. The guy who took my order said I was the first one he remembered asking for anchovies. I thought the green sauce would be a good complement to the anchovies, and it was. The amount was just right--anchovies are indeed strong stuff, and too much would be overpowering.

The lemon tea did not actually have any tea in it--it was lemonade. I was hoping for more like half and half. Just so you know.

The pizzas are $18-20 before tax and tip. That's pretty high, though perhaps not an unusual markup for a food truck. It's a different experience from the heavily discounted big chains. Would it displace my favorite artisanal pizza, Crust Pizza? I don't think so. You can get a medium at Crust for significantly less, and they have anchovies too. The salads are $9-11 and that's the only other price point. They have three ovens so the wait was only 15 minutes, even for our larger order. We enjoy the atmosphere at the food truck park, though due to heat we ordered takeout. If you're there and want pizza it would be worth trying, for sure.

My Yelp Review

Atos International Cuisine

What's new at La Plaza de los Food Trucks? We went there on a warm evening and I tried out this new and long-anticipated truck. I had their special for the evening (avocado chicken Milanesa), which came with fries and a mocktail. I chose a raspberry mojito. Finished with their one dessert, a creme brulee.

The chicken Milanesa is a chicken breast pounded thin and breaded. It was served with a generous amount of guacamole, which made for a nice spread on top. The chicken was tender and not dry at all, which is a real achievement for fried white meat. The fries were also nicely done and finished with a tasty seasoned salt. The dish came with ketchup for the fries and a spicy green salsa in case you wanted a change from the guacamole. Overall very good.

The creme brulee was $10, higher than the menu price, but a generous serving that would be easy to share. The caramelized sugar on top was uneven in a very good and interesting way, ranging from thin and light to thicker and darker, which actually made it a more complete dessert than if it had been perfectly even. The custard inside was a good representation. I didn't share much of it.

The mocktail was a high point in the meal. Light carbonation substituted for alcohol to give it a little bite. The raspberry and mint flavors blended really well. Absolutely delicious.

Atos has a wide variety of cuisines and price points represented on the menu. They have street tacos for $3 if you want something less expensive, and burgers at the midrange. The entrees are fairly described as American-style elevated dining. The chicken Milanesa may not be on the menu when you're there but based on its execution I would be confident that other dishes would be very good. I can easily recommend it.

My Yelp Review