17th Street Cafe

Sometimes going to dinner around the holidays can be misleading. Places that usually aren’t crowded are, food can be hit or miss and people who usually are nice, are not.

17th Street Cafe is definitely an exception: it is always crowded, the food is always stellar, and the staff is always friendly. It’s a quaint little place that immediately feels like home. This is especially true when the owner, Pat Joyce, welcomes you (and then continues to call you by name).

I use the salad as my “how good is this restuarant” judge. This salad was made with field greens and plenty-o-toppings. Just the way I like ‘em.

For my main course I went with the asiago stuffed pillows, shoestring squash and red peppers with pesto sauce. You can substitute the asiago stuffed pillow in any pasta dish and I highly suggest you do so. They are delicate pieces of heaven that I could eat every. single.day.

Not everyone can pull off pesto. Even though it has just a few ingredients I’ve had terrible pesto. Probably the worst pesto I ever had was at the beach, then again I was at the beach. I really had no business eating pesto.

17th Street Cafe pulls off pesto. It’s a rich green color and has a rich hearty fresh flavor. And really anything that has cheese in it is ok in my book. Probably one of the many reasons I like cheeseburgers so much.