I had the greatest pleasure of eating and photo-shooting the newest Lazy Dog Cafe dishes for Spring 2018, which has 25 locations throughout the USA. These courses are available to order starting March 28, 2018.

More than sampling or most likely gorging on the featured foods, Co-Founder Gabriel Caliendo spent valuable time chatting and describing to us guests how these foods came into fruition and eventually be set for this season.

The items I’ve consumed (hugely or minutely) included:

The instantly addicting Onion Dip

The exciting Street Corn Wheels

The mellow Burrata + Heirloom Tomato Crisp flatbread

The invigorating Burrata + Roasted Beet Salad

The unexpectedly wholesome and delicious BBQ Veggie Burger, in which the patty is meshed with black beans and ancient grains

The deconstructed yet filling Veggie Burger Bowl (the chopped patty containing the same ingredients as the previous)

The delightful Grilled Lemon Chicken, hiding underneath this scrumptious cauliflower mash and tahini sauce on the side along with the sauteed green beans topped with unassuming almond-walnut crumble

The sinful Peach Raspberry Hand Pie, which was consumed the quickest out of all of the presented dishes

And the gluten-sensitive yet proudly tasty Lemon Cake, with almond flour as one of the main ingredients and surrounded by a velvety huckleberry moat

I could not forget mentioning some of the cocktails introduced to the menu, such as this virgin Watermelon Margarita. If I didn’t head straight to my day job right after, the virginity would have disappeared. The adult version has a punch of Azul Reposada Tequila.

But I took a small, curious sip of the Honey Thyme Old Fashioned, with this quality-oriented and smooth Buffalo Trace Bourbon which I became quite infatuated — since bourbon or its “father” whiskey normally does not fall under Fia’s favorite alcoholic drinks.

Yet when I sipped into something like a certain favorite cocktail of Fia’s, such as the Huckleberry Mule, the more temptation pinched me harder. Don’t worry, folks: I kicked it away.

Though temptation followed me back with this Pineapple Mojito, and yet again I kicked it further into the kitchen.

Frankly these foods and drinks satisfied my taste buds that I’m anticipating a revisit and happily introducing my good friends to these colorfully enticing items. Of course their fluffy fur children are welcome to join us.

*Huge thank you to C-Squared PR for this amazing #mediatasting at Lazy Dog Cafe

Lazy Dog Cafe

Various locations

Media tasting at the Brea location: 240 S State College Blvd, Brea, CA 92821