Merci Buku

You guys, I might be the worst blogger in the history of blogging. {Okay, this is probably not accurate, but whatever.} I went out to lunch today, sat outside, ate delicious food, drank a beer {sorry, work}, and enjoyed the company of a fabulous friend, and did not take a single picture of the food, the restaurant, or the beer. Fail. I will chalk it up to enjoying the company and not being worried about photos.

At any rate, I had a lunch date today with my dear friend BS, who lives in Chapel Hill but works in Raleigh, which is convenient for me and my belly. This time we tried Buku, a "global street food" restaurant neither of us had been to yet. {The name Buku is a slang twist on the French phrase, Merci beaucoup, which means "Thank you very much" in English.} The restaurant has a pretty unique selection of foods; from its website: "inspired by the pushcarts of street vendors in cities across the globe, our chefs harvest an array of unique and distinct flavors and present them authentically, in a virtual kaleidoscope of plates."

{source}

They're not kidding - there is a wide range of tastes and cultures on the menu. I selected the empanadas {chipotle-braised chicken, tomatoes, guacamole, queso fresco} and BS went with the falafel {chickpea fritters, house-made pita, tomato, cucumber, hummus, tzaziki, tahini}. Both were delicious!

empanadas {source}

My empanadas were fresh and very flavorful, and the crust was light and airy. My only complaint is that there were only 2 - I probably could have used a third one to really fill me up. But, still good!

It was a very lovely lunch hour being able to sit outside in the nice spring/summer day and chat. All of my closest friends left for a week-long vacation to Cabo today, so it was great to be able to see BS. I chose not to join the trip for various reasons, but now I am really wishing that I were on vacation. Plus, I can't talk to my best friends at all for an entire week, and that is a mild form of torture.

Cheers to good friends, good food, and a good life!

Questions of the Day:
Do you have a go-to restaurant, or do you like to mix it up and try new places each time?
What was your favorite vacation?