Jersey Exploration: Xocolatz

The last few times we drove through Westfield, we passed by a restaurant with an intriguing name:  Xocolatz.  We figured with such a use of the X and Z the place would either have some sort of Basque or Mexican cuisine, which of course meant we'd have to check it out.  

After perusing their online menu, we were surprised that they actually offer quite a wide variety of food - focused neither on Basque or Mexican cuisine.  Apparently the name was chosen when they were just a coffee and dessert cafe.  Then they decided to expand their menu.  Perhaps we should have seen that as a red flag, but Mel saw "Lime Yucca Fries" and there was no turning back.

We decided to bring the food home with us rather than dining in.   They were very pleasant taking our order over the phone, and the food was ready when promised.  But the meal itself was not what the menu descriptions promised.

DJ ordered the Xocolatz Tacos with pulled pork, expecting that the "island bang bang sauce" would bring some serious flavor.  But the sauce tasted pretty much like the McDonald's Big Mac "secret sauce" - a.k.a. Thousand Island dressing, a.k.a. ketchup and mayo mixed together.  Not horrible, just not what one expects when ordering a taco dish.  We think they'd do better calling these open-faced wraps.

Mel knew for sure she wanted the yucca fries.  She's been on a quest to find ones as good as the ones at this restaurant named Beso that used to be in Park Slope.  (They would cut the yucca into thin strips and seasoned them so well that friends would seriously crave them out of the blue and decide to go to Beso immediately.)  These fries... were not the jackpot.  Mel thought the fact that they were called "Lime Yucca Fries" on the menu would mean they had some sort of zesty kick.  In actuality, they were chunks of yucca fried just like regular french fries and served with a lime wedge you could squeeze over the top.  Gave that squeeze a chance, thinking they know something we don't about yucca and lime.  But, as you might have guessed, you pretty much just wind up with soggy fries.  :-/

To counter the heaviness of yucca fries, Mel went healthy and ordered the Twin Avocado salad which promised "ripe avocado halves stuffed with Xocolatz house made chicken salad with mixed garden greens, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, thinly sliced red cabbage, black olives and focaccia croutons in a Mediterranean vinaigrette."  Reading that you think this will be an inventive chicken salad with some awesome Mediterranean flavors.  Turns out, it's regular chicken salad with mayo and you really have to dig to get any tomatoes, cucumbers, or olives from the salad.

Here's the thing: the food was not bad.  The problem is expectation.  If this place were named "All American Cafe" this lunch would have totally made sense.  But the fact that they kept the name Xocolatz and describe themselves as serving "home style continental cuisine" you get your hopes up for something that might be a little different in flavor profiles.  Now that we know their style, we'll certainly check them out again when we're in the mood for that type of food.