My Review on Elevation Burger & Solo Pizza Napulitana

I love it when new restaurants open up. I go in there and put my food critic's hat on, have my meal and then start the judging process. Last week, my husband and I dined at two new restaurants: Elevation Burger and Solo Pizza Napulitana. We arrived at Elevation Burger at around 2 PM on a weekday. Surprisingly, the place was packed. We waited in line for about seven minutes before our orders were taken. My husband chose a cheeseburger and I went for the Elevation Burger (note: DO go for the Elevation Burger). In short, it's probably the best burger in Kuwait. It's small, juicy and the meat is ridiculously good. Most importantly, I walked out of there feeling light as a feather. So if you ever feel like a burger, I wouldn't go to anywhere else but Elevation Burger. Apart from the amazing taste, they're the only restaurant I know of that fries its French fries in olive oil and offers 100% organic, grass-fed, free range beef burgers. Talk about yum. Keep in mind that it isn't a place that requires you to dress to the nines; my sister popped in there with a friend of hers, dressed for, let's say Edo on Tuesday nights, and they stayed there for about five seconds before heading out, "There's just not enough ventilation!" she said. But I compared Elevation Burger to the burger joints that I went to in the US and none require you to don a $200 outfit. At the end of the day, it's a simple place that calls for comfy jeans and a neat little top.

The night before, we went to Solo Pizza Napulitana, a tiny little pizzeria in Sharq. Although the menu was minimal, it had the basics: very good pizza. I had the margherita and my husband ordered the pizza of the day which I think was a smoked cheese pizza with mushrooms (it was terrific). I hadn't eaten anything all day and I went to the gym, so I was pretty darn hungry. Everything was perfect except for one thing: there was no peperoncino or hot chili oil and God knows how I like those on my pizza. Other than that, all I can say is that my pizza was perfecto.

The cherry on top was the service. "Wait, even the waiters are Kuwaiti?" my mother asked me as if I had just told her that the people waiting on us were from Mars. It's really endearing to see those young men calling out orders, serving customers and checking if everybody was happy with the food and service. I had once worked as a salesperson and I know how difficult it is to manage the traffic of customers, see if everybody's needs are being taken care of and doings other things with a smile on your face. To the guys at Elevation Burger and SPN, I commend your humbling efforts and satisfying service.

MP3's...
John Mayer - I Don't Trust Myself in Loving You (I'm not a huge John Mayer fan but this song is just wonderful :)
Jose Gonzalez - Heartbeats
Ben Harper Ft. Vanessa Da Mata - Boa Sorte

at 8:30 AM 5 comments

Happy Birthday to Lil' Ol' Me!

As of May 7, I am officially 26 years of age! I just did my math (using my fingers, as usual) and I just realized that I started blogging at the age of 20! I was so young and...well, young in many ways! As they say, you live and learn. And I just checked the date of my last post. It's been more than a month! I have been a super busy bee but I do apologize for being MIA.

Oh! As you can see *points at illustration* I've been dabbling a little bit with Photoshop during my downtime at work. I enrolled in a few classes in college where I worked on projects where I had to use InDesign, Photoshop and whatnot, but because my background is in studio art as opposed to the digital kind (which I do not fully acknowledge as art since I see it as the easy way out and plus, you have to get your basics down and your hands dirty - literally - to be, in my opinion, classified as an artist. Anyone can take a photograph, play around with it for a day and then call it art. I say, "Whatever. Next."), I dealt with these programs the same way I deal with a blank canvas i.e. using one layer, etc.. ANYhow, I doodled a few things and then scanned them in and learned how to use that pen-looking tracing tool which helped me give my illustration the above effect. I was craving Chipotle's chicken burrito with guacamole (without beans) for a week. So I drew myself hugging a giant burrito. I craved it so much that I sent an email to Al-Shayah asking them to bring the chain here although I quite dislike having every single chain in the world in Kuwait. Then again, I'd love to get my hands on a warm, thick chicken burrito. Yum.

I'm looking forward to the summer. Not the weather because I prefer winter over summer any day. I'm excited about my summer plans since I'll be heading to new places in Europe that I've never been to before. I cannot wait until my husband and I reach the last destination of our summer vacation. All I'm going to say is that it's somewhere beautiful that will be filled with the most beautiful live music. Oh the excitement! I can hardly wait.

Speaking of plans, I'm thinking about starting a Twitter account. Why? Simply because I always have random questions that pop up in my head and sometimes, there's no one next to me to share them with. Questions like why do some drivers drive with their foreheads pressed against the front window? And when I was in college, I always wondered why African-American men have petite Asian women by their side and the opposite was never the case.

Well, that's all for my birthday post! Take care of you :)

Songs from the year I was born (right click & save as MP3)...
Tears for Fears - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Whitney Houston - Saving All My Love
Cameo - Word Up!
Phil Collins - Sussudio
Dire Straits - Money for Nothing
Bryan Adams - Summer of '69
Don Henley - Boys of Summer
Heart - What About Love?
Pet Shop Boys - West End Girls
Hall & Oates - Out of Touch

at 8:30 AM 6 comments