Fresco Café & Pizzeria

This past week was difficult for me considering I wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have the energy or oomph that I needed to do Pilates everyday.  I still followed my eating regimen, but since I failed to exercise, I hit a plateau and didn’t lose any weight.  I am still down 26 pounds though, and I was still ready to cheat.
Last night I was still feeling weak and a bit woozy, so John and I decided to order in for our cheat.  It seemed fortuitous that we had just received a delivery menu from Fresco Café in our mailbox. We decided to order the Roasted Eggplant Dip, the Fresco’s Special “gourmet” pizza and Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake for dessert.  We were told the order would take almost an hour to deliver, but they were at our door only thirty minutes later.

I tipped the driver well for being so early and slipped the cheesecake into the fridge for later.  We began with the Roasted Eggplant Dip that was described as a roasted eggplant, garlic & parsley spread served with warm pita triangles.  I love roasted eggplant and the flavor it imparts to sandwiches, dips and even pizza is fabulously rich and decadent.  It was really too bad that when trying this particular dip, all I tasted was garlic and I could even feel the texture of chopped garlic on my tongue.  I quickly moved on to the pizza.

Now, I have had “gourmet” pizza before.  There was a restaurant in California that served the most amazing pizzas, one of which I ordered quite frequently called the “California Club”.  It was mozzarella cheese, fresh roasted chicken, bacon, ham, fresh tomatoes, and French dressing-like sauce on a sourdough crust.  Like icing on a cake, after baking the pizza they would slice fresh avocado on top.  Let’s just say I had high hopes for Fresco’s version of a “gourmet” pizza.

The Fresco’s Special certainly smelled good as we lifted the cover of the box.  With ingredients like mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, Italian sausage, ham, caramelized onions and roasted red peppers we thought we couldn’t go wrong.  The pizza had a nice crispy thin crust and they didn’t stint on the cheese, but I was a little confused when I found pineapple pieces on two different slices.  First, I thought I had read the ingredients wrong when ordering, but I was right, there wasn’t supposed to be any pineapple.

Regardless of the stray fruit, the pizza was still pretty good and we certainly were hungry enough to overlook any inconsistencies.  After all, Fresco’s is a chain and I have a habit of never expecting too much from chain restaurants.  That way perhaps someday one will surprise me!

My favorite part of this meal was the dessert.  I mean, who doesn’t like Godiva chocolate?  Although Fresco Café didn’t make the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake, I have to give them props for ordering it.  Deliciously creamy and smooth with rich dark chocolate mingled with the taste of tangy cream cheese, this cheesecake is truly decadent.

I will be revving up the Pilates routine again for next week because I am determined to see some weight loss by my next cheat.  Wish me luck!