WIAW 4/10: Cascal Lunch

Posted by Lauren

Welcome back for another WIAW post! We are a little late to join the other entries on Jenn’s blog, but that’s alright!

I’m already in “vacation mode” thanks to Costa Rica in T-minus 26 hours! Below you’ll find a few of my Tuesday eats and some -er- interesting news…

The usual breakfast – lots of fruit, coffee, and dry raisin bran that eventually turned into another bowl with almond milk :)

Lunch with the coworkers! About 16 of us in total, but nobody took a group picture. I would have, but I’m way too nervous… I did get a shaky shot of Krizia who has appeared numerous times on the blog so I’m sure she’s fine with the paparazzi-ness by now!

Do you want me to go into detail about Cascal? I don’t really feel like it so I’ll bullet point a few observations:

• heard great things, also it gets packed
• really empty on Tuesday during lunch hour but filled up past 12:30
• food was fantastic, it’s a tapas restaurant so expect to order and share with everyone at the table
• loved the decor! extremely colorful, high ceilings, tall windows, lots of light
• apparently there’s late-night salsa dancing after the tables are cleared?
• sangria! :) yum
• oh, the address: 400 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041aka it’s on the main downtown strip of restaurants and shops
• highly reviewed on Yelp, I’d call it a “hot spot” and I think it deserves its 3.5 star rating

We ordered three Spanish Tapa Sampler ($26) - Serrano ham, marinated shrimp, eggplant piquillo tapenade, stuffed dates, octopus salad Galicia, Spanish tortilla, marinated carrots and Spanish tuna escabeche, mussels vinaigrette, anchovy tapenade, chicken liver mousse (<– amazing!), Spanish deviled egg, Spanish chorizo, Manchego cheese & quince

And two paellas:
Paella Cascal ($41) – Saffron rice, chicken, pork, chorizo sausage, shrimp, mussels, clams, smoked paprika sofritto, peas, piquillo peppers

Paella a la Marinera ($46) – Fresh fish, clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari, scallops, octopus, peas, piquillo peppers, saffron rice, garlic-tuna aioli

Both were delicious!!! Cascal makes a mean paella.

My baby plate refilled itself 23 times! No joke.

I enjoyed two glasses of Sangria… we were celebrating, in a way.

You see, when I get back from Costa Rica, I’ll be starting a new job at a different company. This blog isn’t about my real job, but let’s just say I’m sad to leave my current coworkers but so beyond excited for my next career opportunity!

Let’s not relish on that info, instead, just stare at the heavenly beauty below:

Yes, my friends, that’s the antithesis of what I should be drinking 3 days before my beach vacay, but Karl and Robyn both suggested dessert and In ‘n’ Out shakes just can’t be turned down! That chocolate shake was ahhhmazing. Indulge once in a while, right??

After work I did Step 2 of CR prep – got my nails done!

You see that tiny fleck of peachy-gold nail polish on my big toe (sorry for the toe picture, I’m weird) but that’s from Krista’s wedding in August! Don’t hurl your fists at the computer, I know that’s totally weird since it’s April and all. But I just don’t like nail polish remover!

My friend Katie (see photo, below, where we are whipping our hair back ‘n’ forth) joined me for the hour-long pedicure and shellac manicure at Splendor Nails, a stone’s throw away from my gym.

I’ve got Barbie-colored nails now ;)

Afterwards, we went to Jamba Juice. I ordered the same thing I got on Sunday (apples n’ greens with a whey boost). Pretty tasty for a veggie/fruit smoothie! We went back to my house, drank said smoothies, gossiped, chatted, blahbly blah blah….

I wish Katie was coming with us to Costa Rica, it won’t be the same without her!!! I also drank a cup of tea later in the night and snacked on some pumpkin bread, cocoa almond butter, and those little round gems below:

Ah, peanut butter cheerios, why are you so delicious?

All in all a great day of eats and I loved getting off our work campus and enjoy a tasty Spanish tapas style lunch at Cascal with amazing coworkers. I especially enjoyed Ryan’s toast (making note of it so I don’t forget) and Dan’s extra order of bacon-wrapped dates.

Do you go out to eat with coworkers often?

-Lauren