Tomatina

This food blog is starting to gain some momentum, and I guess I'm starting to take requests (thanks Victor). Tomatina is one of those places that unless you've heard of it somewhere you might be inclined to just drive by it and never stop.

Also, a quick side note, I fear I may be a hypocrite because I keep saying I won't eat at chain restaurants, but so far I've done three blog entries. So, from now on, let's just say I won't seek out a chain as my first choice, but if I end up at one I might as well write about it.

My friend LG and I showed up early at 11:17 and the restaurant didn't open until 11:30, however there were already 2 other parties in line. That's always a great sign. When they opened we were seated quickly, offered menus and out server took our drink order.


Hot summer days require an ice cold Sangria. This Sangria was fantastic, it was Super Duper Ultra Tart!! I couldn't believe it!! If you are ever interested in a "Liquid Lunch", this is a great choice.

Lorraine ordered the lunch special, 3 slices of pizza and a side salad for $8.


Everyday the pizza special changes, today was the Pesto Chicken Pizza and it included:
tomato sauce, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, roasted chicken, roasted red pepper, sun dried tomato and basil pesto.

The pizza had a thin crust, with a perfect balance of cheese and sauce. The salad had generous helpings of roasted red bell peppers, and tomatoes in addition to the mixed greens. Often times we all expect the house salad to be just a boring filler. Not this time, the red wine vinaigrette floated on my palate like a hot air balloon, not heavy at all.

The reason I chose Tomatina today was because of a recommendation that I try a Piadine. I've heard of these before, it is a fresh warm flatbread with a salad in the middle and you roll it up and eat it like a sandwich.


After some help from my server I decided on the Chicken Piadine, some other options I considered were the Hummus and also a Salmon Piadine. In addition to Chicken it also included: baby spinach, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, red bell pepper, garlic paste, oregano and citrus vinaigrette.


This "Salad Sandwich Wrap Thingy" is my new best friend. The flatbread was chewy delightful goodness, and once you bit through it, you are rewarded with the crisp crunch of the fresh baby spinach. This is truly "Refreshing Texture Paradise"!!

Anybody that knows me well knows that I love to spice things up. Since my Piadine was similar to a pizza, I thought it might be a good idea to add some red pepper flakes. Then disaster struck, like all good salt shaker pranks, so was the loose lid on the jar of the "Red Hot Chili Peppers".


Oops, I was going to try to scrape the pepper flakes off, but LG got the attention of our server. When the server showed up she was horrified that somebody would have done this. We thought it was funny, but she took it VERY seriously. She apologized profusely and immediately offered to remake my lunch. Fantastic service, and a great job by Tomatina.

Fine, I hate to admit it, but I guess not all chain restaurants are bad. They do a very brisk and busy lunch crowd as well, by the time we left there was a line at the door.

You can visit Tomatina online at:

http://www.tomatina.com/home.php

Or in person at the Dublin location:

4590 Dublin Blvd
Dublin, CA 94568