Oaktown Crawl #14 - Mua (2/27/13)

 

 

I do so very much enjoy each and every one of our Oaktown Crawls, and I was really looking forward to trying Mua on for size last night. Macaroni and cheese without the cheese seemed downright liberating, and "Oaktown Dark 'N Stormy" seemed like the absolutely perfect name for a cocktail. I had never before eaten beef bone marrow, and I had been challenging myself all week to step up and give it a try, although I do have to admit that it was a bit of a hard sell. It was to be a great night...

And by all accords, it was indeed a GREAT night (good food, great company, so on and so forth). Unfortunately for me, about 2 hours before we were to meet, my stomach had an absolute fit, it won, and my stomach and I stayed home, ate clear broth and crackers for dinner, and let Mary, Lorna, Robin, Jennifer, Lyn, Charlotte, and Diane explore and enjoy Mua on their own. I so missed seeing you......... but it sounds like you had a great meal and a great time!

So here's what they ate (details taken from their online menu, so may vary from what the exact preparations - please comment below me if anything stands out!)

• Beet Salad | mâche, goat cheese, pecan ($9)
• “Mac n’ Cheese” (no cheese)| butternut squash, cream ($8)
• Fried Calamari | chili, shallot ($9)
• Lamb Cheeks | daube braised, parsnip ($11)
• Vegetable Ragout | couscous, kale pesto (wild rice, green lentil, kale, winter root vegetable, shiitake mushroom, vegetable broth) ($15)
• Grilled Salmon | spinach, bacon, onion ($19)
• Desserts - what kinds???

The reviews are still coming in, and there were no scorecards this time (they were in my purse!), so we will have to do without objective, numberized ratings, and rely purely on the descriptive (send them to me in email or post in Comments, below!), but here are a few quotes taken from the fastest reviewers

• "Great food!"
• "I was wanting to try this restaurant for a long time, as I really liked Soizic and Cafe Pastoral their earlier ventures. It did not disappoint me. Food was great!"
• "The one drawback is that the background music gradually got louder and louder."
• "The seven of us had a delightful time at Mua. What an interesting restaurant in such an unlikely niche of downtown Oakland."
• "I wonder if anyone ordered a yummy drink they would like to share with us? Their bar is amazing."
• "so MUA was very good
  service - excellent
  food- very good
  price - expensive but worth it"
• "no susan no party -- boohooo!"
   

I'm sure that there were as many smartphones there as there were people, and would LOVE to see any photos that anybody might have taken (and will be happy to post them to me if you can get them to me).  In the meantime, below are some pictures I stole from online (credit given below each picture, although I'm not sure if that makes thievery acceptable or not).

    Fried Calamari

    (photography credit: Angela L, yelp)

    Cheese-less Mac & Cheese
    (photography credit: Grace C, yelp)

    Lamb Cheeks

    (photography credit: AJ K, yelp)

    Vegetable Ragout

    (photography credit: Nikki G, yelp)

I am SOOOOO sorry to have missed this event.  Sorry to have missed the food and the atmosphere, but most of all, sorry to miss hanging out with all of YOU (my very favorite part of these little outings).

Until our next crawl..... - weak-stomached susan