My new favorite restaurant!

For lunch today, between gigs at elementary schools with the Sister City Jazz Ambassadors (which were a BLAST—the kids were really into it, and we all had a great time!), Andy took us to a tiny little restaurant on the backside of Pittsfield that we would never have found otherwise:  Lucia's Latin Kitchen.  And it was fabuloso!!!  The owner, Lucia, is an Ecuadoran immigrant who creates incredible Latin American food in her shack of a kitchen.  We chose to have the set lunch for the day, rather than order from the menu, and ended up with a huge feast for just a few bucks each (served by a lovely woman with the lovely name of Cleopatra).  It started with inarguably the best chicken soup ever, followed by a pork and rice dish (also available in steak or chicken versions) with beans and—one of my favorite foods—fried plaintains.  All washed down with batidos: fruit smoothies made with your choice of fruits and either milk or water.  I chose mango with water.  Yum.  Everyone should go to Lucia's, both to enjoy the excellent food and to keep her in business so we can keep enjoying it for years to come!