good eats: samara

andy and i have been meaning to go to samara for the past month, but life has just been a series of hectic events. however, we finally made it out there last weekend!

samara recently opened in our neighborhood. it used to be a video rental store, though you’d never know with the modern, cute interior that’s there now. we love when new places pop up by our place — having easy, walkable access to great food is one of the reasons we chose the area. the neighborhood is constantly evolving and it’s great to see delicious little places like this pop up!

of the dishes we tried, my favorite dishes were the smokey morel mushrooms (you’ll see below that we gobbled up most of the plate before i remembered to stop and take a photo), buttered dungeness crab (i love crab and it was great to see a fun new take on it), the crispy chicken skin, and smokey duck pâté (i didn’t know how’d i feel about the rosé gelée, but it ended up being a really wonderful compliment). 

it’s a great place for a nice date night. it’s tucked between some residential homes, giving it a quiet, neighborhood ambiance. we got seats right next to the window (total win for natural lighting on the photos).

on the menu:

  • smokey duck pâté, rosé gelée, walnut toast

  • crispy chicken skin, salt, pepper, buttermilk

  • smokey morel mushrooms, hen’s egg, fine herbs, breadcrumb

  • grilled alaskan octopus, roasted potato, garlic scape & fennel pickle, pimenton aioli

  • buttered dungeness crab, charred rice cake, tarragon

  • grilled mangalitsa belly, sugar snap peas, mint, alpine parmigiana

photos taken on my iphone xs max