Tatte Bakery & Cafe Arlington

I visited the newly opened Tatte Bakery & Cafe in Arlington for lunch. They took over the space formerly occupied by NYAJ. 

The interior was, of course, completely redone. You order at one of the three registers and get a number, and then the hunt for a table is on. After my successful visit at 12:30 with no line, everybody had the same idea. Left Sunday at 12:30. Right Sunday at 1:00.

On my first visit, I had the Lamb Meatball  Shakshuka ($15). "Tomato and bell pepper sauce, eggs, lamb meatballs, and peppadew peppers, topped with spicy labneh and parsley. Served with housemade challah". This was a surprisingly large serving. The eggs were VERY runny, but mixing them into the piping hot sauce fixed that. The meatballs were well-seasoned and tender. The sauce was also really well seasoned. The red peppers on top were the spicy ones. Three gigantic slices of bread on the side. I just cut the peppers into smaller pieces and mixed them in for my leftovers. This was a fantastic lunch (and dinner), and I'll be back for more dishes. 

I grudgingly paid for parking. The next visit will be on a Sunday. I rarely go to downtown Arlington since they installed the parking meters. Luckily, the American Legion is outside the metered area.

LAMB HASH ($15). "Our version of hash. Lamb cooked in warm spices sautéed with potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, and pickled red cabbage, topped with a poached egg and green dressing. Served with roasted garlic labneh, tomato salad, and housemade challah". I asked if it was made to order? Yes. Can you substitute the sweet potatoes with regular potatoes? Much confusion was ensured, and finally, someone said, "It would destroy the integrity of the disk". Bull, it's premade. The tomato salad wasn't; it was just tomatoes with one piece of onion and no dressing. The labneh didn't make it. The potatoes had the skins left on, so peeling ensued. The sweet potatoes ended up on the side. After all that, it was a pretty decent dish, even if I didn't expect ground lamb in a hash.

LAMB KEBAB PLATE ($13.75). "Lamb kebab, baba ganoush, chickpea purée, pickled red cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower served with toasted za'atar pita, labneh, and parsley". I must admit that I expected the kebabs to be chunks of lamb, not ground meat. But since nothing was specified in the description, it's on me. This time, everything that was supposed to be on the plate was. I had to Google about what the labneh was used for. Usually, it's put on bread, but with so much else to put on the bread, I passed on it. The bread was fantastic, by the way. The pickled carrots, cauliflower, and cabbage were all excellent. The baba ganoush and the chickpea purée I really liked. The lamb kebab was tender and seasoned. There should really have been leftovers, but I ate everything apart from the labneh. An excellent lunch.

So, on my next visit, I didn't look at the menu and just ordered the Grilled Cheese, expecting the dish below, but I got GRILLED CHEESE ($11). "Fontina, VT cheddar, Parmesan, sundried tomato, roasted garlic, capers, Dijon mustard, parsley and thyme spread on housemade sourdough". This was a delicious sandwich on super fresh bread, and I finished the whole thing. This should really have been a $7 sandwich. No salad, no nothing. If you go on a Sunday for lunch, get here at 12:30.

SHORTRIB GRILLED CHEESE ($13). "Housemade braised short rib, aged cheddar, and horseradish beet relish, on housemade challah". Took my own advice and got here at 12:30; it worked last week, not this week. This sandwich had only three ingredients, so why was the relish just a blob in the middle? If I have to rearrange the inside, I'm not happy. The short rib was very bland, and there was very little cheese. It is a grilled cheese, so there should be an abundance of cheese. The relish could have been more flavorful, too. This should have been a $9 sandwich at the most.

Brunch Smoked Salmon, Avocado & Egg Sandwich ($12.50). "Smoked salmon, avocado, red onion, capers, alfalfa sprouts, & creamy scrambled eggs, served on a housemade challah roll, with a green herbed dressing". Perfectly smoked salmon, plenty of avocado, warm scrambled eggs, and lots of briny capers made this an eggcellent lunch. Doesn't get better than this, and if I want to treat myself to something good, I'll get this again. It might be a good idea to rearrange everything and make two sandwiches out of it. Update: I did get it again and made two sandwiches out of it. Still eggcelent!

645 Massachusetts Ave, Arlington, MA 02476 Phone: 781-583-6046

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