IMG_20120430_203209.jpeg
Cloves is the brand new restaurant to open in the small storefront next to Easy Street Records on Mercer, in front of the Melting Pot. Before Cloves it was Wanna Noodle (which wasn't all that great and didn't last very long). Before Wanna Noodle, it was Taco Del Mar (which I, embarrassingly, miss because I like burritos).

Cloves is run by the same folks who own the Indo Cafe in Northgate. They have beer and wine, a couple TVs that were showing the NBA finals, and those neat corrugated cardboard light covers.

The corn fritters ($5) looked a bit greasy, but they didn't taste that way at all. They were light and slightly crispy, with an almost eggy texture, and they were loaded with lots of sweet corn kernels. The fritters came with a slightly spicy sweet and sour dipping sauce that I wanted to eat by the spoonful.

We also tried the yellow rice ($11) which was filled with little pieces of fried tofu, peas, and carrots, and served with a few slices of fresh cucumber and tomato. It was good! It had a lot of flavor and while it was almost too spicy for me (they serve their food on a scale of 1-3 and we got a 2), I'm admittedly a bit of a wuss in that department. My date (hi Robby!) thought it was perfect. It came topped with these crispy and weird onion wafers that we broke up into the rice. They were unnecessary, but not bad.

Will definitely be going back, if only to gorge myself on the corn fritters.