Date Night Eats #2:  Cholita Linda (Oakland)

04.26.14 @ around 6:30 pm

“Cholita Linda  sounds so familiar.”  This was what I told my guy when we passed by this place last week. Then it suddenly clicked — this place started out as a food cart at farmers’ markets!

I was excited and thankful that Cholita Linda chose my hood to establish its brick and mortar eatery.

This has been the Part 2 of our One Date Night/Two Eats adventure. Date Night Eats #1 was at Barlata  where we had small plates and sangria prior to coming to Cholita Linda which was just two doors away from Barlata.  It was my guy’s brilliant idea to hit up two places for date night instead of just one.

Cholita Linda is so open, bright and sunny inside. The pastel Caribbean colors reminded me of a birthday cake and  look delicious enough to eat!

The setting is casual. Seatings are communal. (Yup, you’ll have to share with strangers but it was not a problem for us. It was not packed yet so I did not feel like my space was being invaded.)

The Latin American food with an emphasis on Peruvian dishes were tasty. We had:

• 2 Chicken Tacos for my guy  $7
• Chips and guacamole $4.50
• Picadillo plate with black beans, rice and plantain for me. $10.95

The portions were generous while the prices were really reasonable.

Of course, at this point, I was already stuffed from our Date Night Eats #1 that I barely touched my delicious meal. I took it home to go.

$26 before tip and 1 soda

This place is a keeper and I am proud to welcome Cholita Linda as a new delicious addition in Temescal. And we will definitely return for cheap, yummy and filling eats!

Movie Night at Home and More Eats:

PS My guy ordered a Chicken Salad with Black Beans and Cotija $9.95 to go which I had for breakfast the next day. He also ordered a Cubano sandwich $9.95 which we devoured at close to midnight after watching “ Catching Fire” on DVD*. It was a little bit cold so we lit the fireplace. We kept on feeding wood to the fireplace that we had the fire lit for 5 hours until 1 am!

Both salad and sandwich were yummy although the salad was already wilted the next day. I just added fresh lettuce with  the chicken and beans, and took out the wilted greens. . Still good.

*(I’ll say read the book first. Not bad for a movie but the  book was better.)

A really fun and cozy Saturday!