Mecca Fresh: A Lunch Pilgrimage

I decided to throw one of my favorite restaurants up here for you people who live in the Palm Harbor area. Florida isn't one of the best culinary areas to date, believe me, but if you're willing to check out alot of places, the laws of luck dictate that you have to hit a winner sometime. I usually go to places within walking distance, to help digestion, (read as: no car), so I've become pretty familiar with anything in a 3 mile radius. It took until 3:30 to twist my sister into going with me, so it was a pretty late lunch, but we went anyway, her waiting for her promised pastry from the bakery, and me just counting down until I could eat something that didn't taste like my crap cooking.


I've been on this pescatarian (look it up) kick for awhile now, so I like going to places that are organic or have vegetarian options. So, there's this place by my house, Mecca Fresh Cafe, and it's one of the best spots for lunch. It's a really cute size, but pretty open, with a sushi bar and outside dining. It's in a plaza with lots of nice and talked-about restaurants, and I think some of the culinary awesome rubbed off onto them, because it's really tasty.

So, I normally wouldn't have found it, mostly because I don't eat out alot, but I got lucky because next door is one my favorite window-shopping destinations, the Surf and Turf Market. It's this market that has all sorts of fish, meats, wines, cheeses, and desserts. I go in there to breathe in the smell of raw meat, clean fish, smoke sausage, and dingy carpet; I look at all the goat cheese spreads, hummus, aprons and meats, wishing I had 100 dollars and the stomach of Drew Carrey. You know, what any normal girl does on her labor day weekend. Anyway, shopping trip aside.

Yeah, these people though I was a total creeper after I asked to snap a few.

The things I do for you (3) people.

When I first go into Mecca, my sister in tow, the first thing I notice is that the both the women are super nice, and pretty understanding of the fact that I take over 10 minutes for any decision past what socks I put on in the morning. They check that I don't need anything yet, and then leave me to my ruminations, with me ignoring odd looks from my fellow diners. (I figured out there was powdered sugar down the front of my shirt. My sister couldn't wait for that pastry.) During my intense perusal of a conveniently short and sweet menu, I usually try to pick something that I haven't tried before, just in case I miss out on an awesome food experience. Lo and behold, when I look up from my menu out of sheer absent-mindedness, I see a huge chalkboard telling me the soup today is sweet corn with veggies. I've had a cold for the past few days, so that sounded perfect. I got a cup of that and a salad with chili shrimp.
I hit the jackpot with my menu choices pairing-wise, because when my salad comes, it's got the same vegetables as the soup. The soup has tons of corn, carrots, squash, zucchini, and it's got herbs floating around that you could see, which was totally awesome, because I love me some herbs. It was colorful and filling, and the perfect size, because I finished it all and scraped the bowl. It was good, but I was really dissapointed on the other half of my meal. Maybe I just had high expectations, but it wasn't that noteworthy. The salad was the perfect size, but I didn't really feel that great about ordering it. Usually I get a salmon salad with rasberry viniagerette and that's great, along with most of my salads that I order there, but that just goes to show, that's what I get for branching out. The vegetables weren't that tasty when raw, it was squash and zucchini, and the dressing didn't have to much of a kick to it. The shrimp was plain, with just a hint of chili and I had been hoping for something seared and spicy when I ordered it, not moist and soft, and there was only 2 pieces. Kind of cheap, if you ask me.

The place is totally worth it, though. They serve you amazing noodles, like pad thai or mai thai with red curry coconut milk and bean sprouts. They're vegetarian friendly, and the outside dining is super nice and comfy. They do a pretty good seared ahi tuna for some salads, and their paninis are great, too. Dissapointing salad or not, Mecca is still one of my favorite restaurants.

My bakery was practically right next door, so I picked up some pastries for dessert, and it was pretty much the perfect day. Those times when you can word-wrestle somebody into going out for food and walking the whole way are definitely the ones worth keeping around. Take pictures, recount it to uninterested third parties, whatever it takes.