Despite all of the fun new things that are keeping me wicked busy, I can always find ample time to eat.

Yesterday, while driving home from work the “other” way (you all know what I mean–there’s the normal way, then there’s the “other” way), I came upon a strange sight.

It was a neon, blinking, flashing, scrolling sign in the window of a restaurant that I thought was defunct. In a nearly defunct neighborhood. In a seemingly defunct building. So, what did I do?

I sent my BFF a text message, of course:

“New Dominican restaurant on Route 1. You’re gonna go there with me. Tomorrow.”

Being the good BFF that he is, he responded:

“Oh ok…sounds good to me…”

See, that’s why he’s my BFF. He’s so agreeable! I like agreeable people, they’re so…so…agreeable.

So, tonight we went to Cabaze Restaurant and Lounge.

(And again, sorry for the iPhone pix. I get my big girl camera back tomorrow, over chocolate chip cookies).

I was really excited about the idea of discovering some authentic Dominican food on the menu, since the words “Dominican Restaurant” were in neon lights scrolling and obnoxiously blinking in the window the day before.

As we browsed the menu, the generous server brought us some chips and salsa. I was a little taken aback at the first bite because the salsa was warm. Like, intentionally warmed up and served to us that way on purpose. This geeked me out for a moment because I’ve never experienced warm salsa with my chips.

I got used to it.

Yep, that warm salsa didn’t slow me down a bit.

There was definitely an eclectic selection of various foods, but none of the dishes jumped out at me and declared themselves as new and exciting things that I couldn’t get anywhere else. I didn’t want to take the easy way out and order something that I can get at just any old Mexican restaurant.

It also didn’t help that I’ve been teased incessantly with visions of authentic Spanish food plastered all over Sarah’s blog…and I wanted AUTHENTIC SPANISH FOOD, dammit.

But, sadly, Jessup is no Brooklyn.

Sigh.

I finally decided on the Gambas al Ajillo, since I love shrimp, garlic, rice, and fried plantains. I mean really–can you go wrong with any of those components?

The answer in this case is a resounding “no”.

(You thought I was going to “yes”, didn’t you)

Isn’t it lovely?

I can’t say that it was a traditional version of Gambas al Ajillo, as I’ve had the real deal cooked by my Dominican ex-boyfriend’s housekeeper/nanny/chef (you can do the math on that yourself). However, this version of the dish was delicious, and I ate everything on that plate besides the shrimp tails.

I don’t remember the last time that I actually ate everything on my plate. It was liberating and terrifying, all at the same time.

On the way home, I had a conversation with the BFF concerning the reasons why we don’t explore new restaurants together more often.  He basically said that it’s because I run too damn much. He has a point.

I told him that we could make this a more regular occurrence, but that he would have to be agreeable to being plastered all over my blog. And, I told him that he would have to go by the pseudonym “Restaurant Boy”.

He agreed.

Big surprise, right?

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