 Sweet potato fries with a red pepper tahini. Brent and I ventured to Somnio's Cafe for dinner this evening. I felt like maybe I've heard of the place before but we've never been there so it was exciting to try something new and get unlocked from our downtown tunnel vision. Somnio's is located on South 1st street and prepares food from local, organic farms. When we first drove up we were a little apprehensive because a) there was nobody there and b) I walked into what I thought was the front door but found myself in the heart of the kitchen... it was interesting. We cautiously found the correct front door and proceeded with hesitation. My fears were soon relieved by a friendly wait person and a charming ambiance featuring darling little chandeliers and cute tables. The menu looked delightful and so friendly for me to peruse as it was vegetarian friendly as well as offering local meats; I felt like the world was my oyster! I so love discovering places like this and Brent did a great job finding it!  Brent's pickled beet salad. I ended up ordering their "side plate" which came with 3 sides and a salad. It was a lot of food! I got greens, asian cucumbers, ka-prow soup, and the sissy salad. Brent went with the vegetable risotto which they warned several times takes a while to make. Since we were starving we decided to start with their sweet potato fries. The fries were awesome! They had some sort of battering on them that made them extra crisp and the sweet potato was perfectly cooked and soft inside the crunchy exterior. I highly recommend them! The other thing that was praise worthy was definitely my Sissy salad; I'll be back to order that and Brent and I agreed it was one of the best things we had eaten on our visit to Somnio's. The rest of the food was good but it all lacked a bit of flavor. I love salt but Brent hardly uses it and he added fairly copious amounts to all of his food. Other than that it was good and we'll definitely be back another time. It's also byob and several couples, that came trailing in after we were seated, brought their own wine. I think it makes for a nice date night without having to shell out the 300% mark-up most restaurants add to their wine. Hoorah!  My awesome salad with appels, avocado, jalepeno and a fabulous dressing! I think it's called Sissy salad.  Ka-prow... it was ok but not great.  Greens and asian cucumbers.  Brent's vegetable butternut squash risotto. After Somnio's we made the fateful decision to visit Gourdough's. I've heard about this donut shop from several different sources and had to try it. We looked at the assorted donut menu and finally made some decisions. I excitedly ordered the Sara's Joy with coconut flavored filling, fresh coconut, and fudge icing. Brent got the The Puddin with cream cheese icing, bananas, nilla wafers, and cream cheese filling. They are made to order and while we waited we walked across the little park and ordered a coffee from Brevita. Thankfully we had enough foresight to leave our lattes without sugar!   Sara's Joy  The Puddin Granted, I realized these are donuts and they were going to be sweet. It is also a relatively known fact I LOVE sweets and have what I thought was an insatiable sweet tooth. I have met my match. I was actually afraid that I would eat at Gourdough's and become gordo (fat) myself from my new found love and obsession. Sadly but thankfully this will not be the case. These concoctions were miraculously far too sweet and rich for me! Whoa, stop the press, what? Yes, I will repeat too sweet, too rich for Laura L. Lane. The impossible has possible-ed and though I wanted to love these fancy filled creations I will not be visiting again. I like that the donuts are made to order but the fried donut delivered hot to my plate was thick with grease and I still don't understand the use of the word "filling" as nothing was filled at all but instead layer upon layer upon the fried dough. I know everyone will have their opinion but I am afraid that this is going to be one of those novelty type places that people will try once or twice and then move on. In my heart I hope I am wrong because I know how hard it is to start a business. If you do go and try it I highly suggest taking four friends, ordering two donuts and splitting it up.
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