frederick – Mel's Mosaic

This year I visited Frederick, MD a couple times and on one occasion had dinner at Cacique, which serves fine Spanish and Mexican cuisine. Fortunately on a Friday night it wasn’t too packed when we arrived, but I could tell we just beat the rush!

We ordered the required of guac and margaritas, both of which were very good.

For dinner, my friend ordered the Paella de Marisco — a rice dish consisting of shrimp, scallops, fish, mussels, calamari, and garnished with a clam. Cooked in a seafood broth and Spanish herbs (made to order). Made to order in the sense that they warn you it takes 20-30 minutes to prepare. Now jumping forward it did take quite awhile (30-45)…but come the end it was quite good.

I went for my favorite of ceviche and found one with calamari, which isn’t all that common. The whole dish was Ceviche Mixto — fresh tilapia, shrimp, scallops and squid marinated in fresh lime juice with red onions, cilantro, celery, garlic, ginger, and jalapenos. Very good! The ginger was also a unique ingredient in the dish.

The food and atmosphere overall were very good. Service got a bit slow mid-meal, though it was a Friday night. But, I would definitely check this place out again. Salud!

Visited a nice restaurant in Frederick, MD that provides ‘the best of Greek, Turkish and Lebanese Cuisine in small dishes.’ This was Ayse Meze Lounge.

Went for lunch, and while they have a lunch menu, was easier to look over the dinner menu with all the small plates. They say to get about 3 per person. There were so many choices that it was hard to pick! While milling things over we of course started with some babaghanoush. I was thrilled with this because it is very hard to find it without dairy. Bring it on! So smooth!

Then we opted for the Mantar – mushrooms, almonds, dates, oregano, brandy. Such and amazing taste. Could have eaten pounds of this stuff.

Next was Pancar – roasted beets, arugula, manouri, walnuts, sherry dressing. The cheese on top is goat cheese so loved that I was able to eat it!

Then Enginar – baby artichokes, roasted peppers, grilled onions.

We also had some dolmas, but I didn’t get a picture of those. The lunch was very nice and very filling! Five plates/meze between two of us was more more more than enough!! They have an outdoor seating area that is quite nice and evening entertainment. Will definitely check this place out again.