Back to Mountain View - Mother and Son

A night out with just my younger son.  We need time to decompress, catch up, simply eat and relax. Life gets busy, schedules are filled and crazy. I commute and work Monday through Friday as well as hold a second job that can require few or many hours per week - demand varies.  He attends college full-time and holds a 3/4 time retail job.  Chatting can be hit or miss and so this hour or so of face time is quite valuable.

Some days are for dressing up, or down, formal or comfortable. The same rules can apply to food. Meals do not have to be formal or trendy to be just what we crave. Not a new concept by any means since food writers referenced "comfort foods" probably since words were put together about what we eat.

Restaurants can also be categorized this way and it doesn't necessarily have to have anything to do with price. Just as designer jeans can be at the opposite end of the spectrum as practical denim work pants, Moules Frites may sound super fancy, but simply find a decent local place that serves mussels and french fries and voila - modern spin.

Here are my plates:

The Fries

The Mussels

The french fries were absolutely perfect.  Golden brown, crispy, tender centers and sprinkled with salt.  They are my first food love.  

The mussels were succulent with a touch of briny flavor and smothered in a creamy garlic sauce that was also perfect for swirling fries around in a savory swim.

My son may sometimes hate to admit how like his father, but it can be exhibited by a newly noticed trait. Though the Mr. prefers Chicken Marsala as a rule, I notice our younger son tends to order chicken Cesar salads as his "go to" and on this night he simply ordered it in a wrap. The other variation was the chicken was grilled rather than fried.  We almost cleaned our plates and were only stopped by full bellies under protest.

We are in casual clothes and a comfortable family restaurant.  No pretense or fussiness. We talk about school and work and cars and of course, the food. We talk about upcoming weekend plans. We talk about life and family. We talk. We are just a mom and a son in a local restaurant having dinner and we are Fed Well.