(Yvo actually reviewed another sister restaurant, Toloache, this morning.)

After arriving, we were warmly greeted by the hosts and promptly seated in the tiny restaurant. I would recommend making reservations since the restaurant filled up quickly shortly after we were seated, a little past seven on a Saturday night. Soon after, our waiter came over with the menus. He was also extremely friendly. I presented him with a printout of the certificate as was required with this deal. He told us that he didn’t think the restaurant accepted these anymore, let alone on a Saturday night, but would check with the Manager. I read the certificate a couple of times before arriving to check that there were no weekend restrictions. Since, there were none listed, I was a little perturbed that we faced an issue with the waiter. Fortunately, when he came back he informed us that the Manager agreed to let us use the certificate. It was a relief, but I was worried that this incident could lead to terrible service from the staff. I ended up being worried for naught as the service was excellent throughout the meal. The waiter even offered to bring CT a new cocktail in case the one she ordered was not to hear liking.

CT says: I was questioning a few ingredients in the cocktails, since I didn’t want something too sweet. The waiter was very patient with answering my questions, and nice enough to check up after it was served that it was, indeed, what I wanted. It was!

We started off with the Ceviche Mixto ($14). It had shrimp, octopus, clams, red onion, rocoto (South American chili pepper), cilantro, maiz cancha, and lime juice. As ceviche aficionados (earned through our travels in Panama), we can say it was a very good preparation. The octopus(my favorite) was extremely tender with hardly any of the usual chew associated with it. Maiz cancha was giant corn kernels, which were good and quite different from the corn we usually get in NYC. There was so much going on in the bowl that we needed to get a close up shot too.

Since we got guacamole at their location in the East Village, we decided to try something different. Picada ($9). It was a little basket of fried awesomeness with yucca, tostones, chorizo, chicharron and a spicy rocoto salsa. The picture doesn’t do it justice at all. The yucca was made into little balls that were quite light and airy. I love the salty, crunchiness of tostones as opposed to their sweeter and mushier maduros counterparts. To the left of the yucca was one of a couple chunks of deep fried pork belly. It was pretty great; how could it not be? However, the true star of the dish was the fried chorizo bites. They were super flavorful with plenty of that spicy chorizo flavor, that is like no other sausage. I am glad we decided to try this instead of going for something we already had before.

The menu was quite small, but that didn’t make it any easier to pick what we would have for dinner. Still, we did decide it would be more reasonable to share one of the smaller plates and one entree.

For the entree, we chose the Lechon ($24). It was suckling pig with yucca puree, habanero mojo de ajo and chicharron. The pictures don’t do this dish justice because it was a HUGE portion. The pork was very juicy with plenty of intense flavors. Crispy pork skin mixed in brought a good textural contrast too. To put it simply, it was one of the best preparations of pulled pork I have ever had. The habanero was subtle, but built up slowly to give that nice back of the throat heat. I was surprised by how much pork was on the plate. It had to have been at least three normal servings worth. I couldn’t stop eating it and kept going long after CT threw in the towel. It was quite reasonably priced for the amount of food it was and I think I willhave to order it again on the next visit.

So big, you need to see it from both sides.

CT asked for some hot sauce on the side, as she usually does at most restaurants. Here was the great homemade hot sauce that was very spicy. I was pretty happy with the intense spice levels already in the dishes, so passed on adding extra.

For the small dish, CT decided we should try the Tallarin Saltado ($14). It was oxtail and noodles with scallions, piquillos, peas and a poached egg. I haven’t seen pasta dishes on that many Latin menus, so I thought it was quite a risk. Boy was I wrong. It was awesome. The egg was perfectly poached as you can see by its shape and runnyness. The oxtail was super tender, almost like short rib with some more of that slowly building heat from the peppers. The dish ended up being somewhat of a take on a carbonara. CT really hit the jackpot with this. I would highly recommend it.

All in all, it was a great meal with all aspects being top notch. We were very happy with all of the dishes and the level of service. Although there was a little hiccup with the Restaurant.com certificate, it was quickly remedied. It also helped that the waiter was very generous with the table pours of the two glasses of wine that I ordered. He actually forgot to put the second glass on the bill, but I reminded him since the restaurant deserved to be paid for it and I believe in karma. I would be interested to see if their West Village location has such an impeccable dinner service too. Definitely check out Yerba Buena, you won’t be disappointed!

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ceviche, restaurant.com, suckling pig

I was recently invited to preview a new menu available at Zengo from February 15th through March 31 – Zengo Test Kitchen: Shanghai/Sao Paulo. Combining the flavors of Shanghai with those of Sao Paulo, I was excited to see soup dumplings on the menu – as you might have realized, I’ve been on a huge kick lately and can’t get enough!

First up, though, was a special cocktail designed to complement this menu. Since neither of us really wanted to drink – it was early on a Wednesday and I had to wake up early the next day – I ordered it for just a sip: “spiked acai tea” which was described as green tea vodka, acai liqueur, acai berry juice and lychee. Pretty bland, actually, with nothing particularly standing out, but with mild flavors, it did well.

First up, we were served what the menu said was: “xiaolongbao soup dumplings: pork/crab/linguica sausage/green onion/jalapeno ginger black vinegar” – which sounds like a nice mix of the two cuisines (what little I know of Sao Paulo, anyway). Once I was served, however, my face fell. I have no problem with fusion (in fact, one of my favorite restaurants is fusion) – it was more the misnomer. I really dislike when I’m told the name of a dish and when it comes, it is some approximation of that dish – tell me it’s reinterpreted, reinvented, deconstructed, but don’t simply tell me these are xiaolongbao. These are not xialongbao! They’re simply dumplings. DLS chided me to open my mind and try them, but matters weren’t helped when the first one I ate boasted no soup whatsoever inside. He seemed surprised and said “there’s soup… just very little.” My next few dumplings, however, had much more soup, and fared much better – the savory, rich pork meat, with the slight hint of ocean from the crab, came through and showed me what’s up, while the very very slight spice of the jalapeno black vinegar complemented the flavors nicely. Overall, very good juicy dumplings that made me almost regret judging them by their cover. I do wish they’d change the name or include a note that this is xiaolongbao-inspired though.

“Crispy Shanghai spring rolls: chicken/shrimp/tempero baiano/bamboo/carrot/mushroom/won bok/Sichuan-acai berry-ginger dipping sauce” came next. I was surprised how large each of our servings were – yes, we each received our own plates of each course – and sadly did not finish all of my courses. In any case, DLS noted how greasy he felt these spring rolls were, while I thought they weren’t particularly greasy but in fact a bit dry in the middle. The dipping sauce was a little cloying – go light on them, I tend to be heavy-handed when it comes to dipping, to my own downfall sometimes – but taken lightly, it was an interesting dish. Crisp shells giving way to fragrant innards – I am not one to order spring rolls at restaurants, ever, but these were decent. I really liked the ‘salad’ underneath – cooked veggies that were perfectly crisp!

“Coconut crusted bolinhos de bacalau: coconut/salt cod/potato/serrano/green onion/cachaca-soy hot mustard/sweet and sour sauce” – long time readers of Feisty Foodie might immediately see the problem here. I’m allergic to coconut. Twitter followers might realize I’ve been testing this allergy a bit, so I tried the exterior and though this time didn’t work for me, I did note that it was very coconutty and crisp. The interior was an entirely different story: creamy, smooth, almost sweet. DLS asked me why it was so creamy, and I had to look before I realized it was potato. Unfortunately, I believe most of the bacalao (salt cod) was in the exterior, so I missed out on that a bit in my potato innards. He seemed to like them though.

Main course: “Picanha steak & XO style king crab: dry aged New York strip steak/hot bean paste/broccolini/black bean ginger sauce” – the steak was cooked properly, and very tasty. The crab – or at least mine – was slightly overcooked, though DLS said his was really good (then refused to eat the rest of my piece, grrr). Again, loved the veggies and ate every last bite of those!

“Feijoada: black beans/shredded pork/linguica/tabajo beef/bacon” – this was super meaty, slightly dry, and smoky from the bacon. I liked it, but I couldn’t eat very much of it as we’d been served full sized portions of everything and I was struggling to eat any more.

Dessert! “Coconut tapioca: mango-kumquat gelee/lychee sorbet/shaved coquito nuts/micro shiso” – Yes, I know… but we each took a spoonful and immediately said “oh my gosh! this is so good!” but I was a little shy after my run-in with the earlier coconut… so I only ate a little bit before giving up. But what little I had was delicious! and DLS said this was his favorite dish of the night, going so far as to even eat some of mine – and all of my lychee sorbet, wahhh.

If you have a chance to check out the special menu at Zengo before it ends March 31, I think they are doing something very interesting here. While I took issue with the naming convention of their xiaolongbao, I found most of the dishes very tasty in their own way, and really enjoyed what I could eat. The space is lovely – super high ceilings, wooden beams hanging from the ceiling for aesthetic purposes, and a great staff. Check it out!

Please note that I enjoyed this meal compliments of Zengo & its PR. I was not paid to post my opinion about this meal, positive or negative, and do this simply to share with you a dining option available to you.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, press event, tasting menu

The entire back room, which is quite large, was reserved with three large tables for the food and lifestyle bloggers that had been invited to this event.  Our extremely friendly main-server came by to give us some bread to start, which he explained was a traditional Colombian bread – I thought he said pao de quiejo so I got super excited, but this turned out not to be that.  It looks like it… but it’s pandebono, which I thought was OK but needed more oomph (cheese or salt?).  A black bean dip appeared on the side.  I didn’t finish my piece, because I saw the menu and knew that with my wonky appetite, I needed to save room for what was to come. 

Our first course was served shortly: a duo of ceviches.  Marinated aji tuna, ginger, cilantro, mustard vinaigrette on the left, and cured salmon, aji amarillo, sour orange, pineapple on the right: I enjoyed the salmon, but I really enjoyed the tuna.  The flavors were bright, fresh, and just worked together to make my mouth happy.  Yum! 

Next, our aperitivo: bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates, hearts of palm, cabrales on the left, and Colombian sweet corn arepa, ropa vieja, crema nata and Criolla salad.  I thought the dates were a little sweet and overpowered the rest, but tasty enough; the ropa vieja on the other hand was super tender and super flavorful.  Delicious. 

With each course arrived more alcohol, so fast I couldn’t keep pace.  As soon as we’d sat down, actually, mojitos appeared; I’m not a fan of mojitos in general but these were so, so good.  I downed half of it, and the alcohol punched me in the face, so I had to stop before I got completely sloshed.  This is the sangria that arrived with our aperitivo, but I’ll let Beer Boor tell you about all the drinks as that’s his job, not mine.  And yes, that’s him in the background of this pic – I think he’s looking at his phone?

Beer Boor says: Har har. The mojitos were very citrusy and minty, to the point where the alcohol just didn’t register — the way I like mixed drinks. The sangria was given to us as using a very good bottle of red, which I couldn’t understand; I figured usually you use mediocre wine since it’s going to be drowned out by the fruit. In this case, the opposite occurred, and the drink became more of a red wine with solid bits of flavorless fruit.

Our first entree – yes, I said first – the fish course, roasted striped bass, serrano ham chick pea roasted pepper sauce.  My piece of fish was slightly overcooked, and I was feeling really full here so I opted to only take one bite before setting my fork down.  The server came to ask if everything was alright, and while I tried to assure him that it was fine, he took my plate from me and wrapped it to go without me asking.  That was pretty nice of him, though unnecessary, as I knew I wouldn’t eat it once I went home, and as expected, it wound up in the trash. 

Beer Boor says: I speculate that this was the Las Perdices pinot grigio. It’s never been a favorite grape of mine, but this was a mediocre wine, sharp and a little sour, and I struggled to drink much of it.

Our second main course, Cuban style ‘steak frites’ with traditional chimichurri – oh, how we looked and looked for the chimichurri.  It was not on any of our plates, and questions later didn’t solve the riddle.  Regardless, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium-rare and I enjoyed what I ate.  The yucca as ‘frites’ underneath didn’t fare so well in my opinion, but the dish was still very tasty. 

Beer Boor says: Just when I thought the wine choices might improve, this cabernet sauvignon appeared. Again, guessing based on the menu, this was a 2009 Infinitus. Far from tasty, this was mealy, flabby, mushy, all bad adjectives-y, and sat largely untouched for the duration.

For dessert, dark chocolate cake, dulce de leche ice cream.  I found it highly amusing that everyone’s ‘domino’ showed the number 7 (minus one person who had a 5)… when the name of the restaurant has the word ‘eight’ in it.  I went around looking at everyone’s dessert just to try to find someone with an eight!  I thought the cake was good, but I’m not a sweets person so it didn’t have a chance of impressing me anyway. 

Yvo says: There were definitely some really good dishes and some dishes that were only so-so for me.  I really liked the ceviche, and had varying levels of enjoyment for the rest of the meal.  I could see coming here if I lived closer or was in the neighborhood, but as the Upper West Side proved itself to be incredibly annoying to return to Forest Hills from after dinner that week, I doubt I will return any time soon.  However, that’s just a matter of personal convenience; it’s perfectly fine for most people… so I would suggest checking it out if you find yourself near the Museum of Natural History and in need of some tasty eats. 
recommended (but if you live in Forest Hills, be sure to leave plenty of time for the commute home)

Please note that we attended this event free of charge, courtesy of Calle Ocho and their PR team.  Opinions expressed herein are our own, and we received no compensation for such a post – the meal was free, and we were given $25 vouchers in the event we return.

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ceviche, fish

My dear friend StB has had an exciting year.  Long time readers may recognize her as my former partner-in-eating-crime; we ate many many meals together (as that link will show you), but then she did something horrible and moved to Ohio.  But this year, she moved back!  She got engaged!  She turned 30!  And when I finally had a minute to breathe during this intense, scary, terrible, awesome, amazing summer, we took a jaunt around Jackson Heights for food – cheap.  We started off at Mira Cali II for pandebono…

This was $1.  We split one because we knew how much more food was coming.

The fluffy innards.  I liked this – it was airy, chewy, slightly sweet – but I don’t know that I’d go out of my way to get get it again.  I like pao de quiejo

After we wandered up and down Roosevelt Avenue for a few minutes looking for a tamale lady said to sell out of a cooler under the train stairs (we saw no such person), we decided to pick a truck and order.  This looked a lot like any of the trucks I’d hit during my Oakland truck tour, so we stopped and quickly agreed upon…

Oreja, or pig ear. 

Slightly chewy in texture, the flavor wasn’t actually all that interesting.  We both agreed that at $2, this was a steal, and quite tasty but next time we’d both opt for a different “meat” (we split this, too). 

Our next stop turned out to be a taqueria/sit-down type of restaurant. 

As soon as we sat down, we were given menus to ponder and a basket of clearly housemade tortilla chips and salsa.  Not spicy, but a nice nibble for while we perused the offerings. 

We both ordered the horchata, but because I’m always thirsty lately, I got the supersized version.  I think this was $1.50 and $3. 

StB went with the cesina, or salted beef.  (We split both of these again.)  When they say salted beef, they mean salted.  I mean, it was really freakin’ salty.  Tasty, to be sure, but something both of us agreed that we couldn’t eat the entire taco because it was just too salty to comfortably consume.

I went with al pastor (pork) I believe, and this was really yummy.  I liked mine quite a lot, finding it super tasty and everything worked well together.

Also, before anyone gets upset at how the “guacamole” looks – I don’t think that’s guacamole.  I think that’s salsa de aguacate – a sauce made of avocado, and meant to be blended quite a bit more (and therefore “waterier”/more liquid-y than guacamole, not nearly as chunky or thick and creamy as many Americans are used to).  And it tastes good, as long as you know what to expect. 

Following that, we walked over to Seba Seba to look at antojitos. 

Small bites that range in price from $1 to a few dollars. 

And yet somehow, we were too full to consider picking and choosing from the cases displaying some really amazing bites. 

Yeah, we walked to East Elmhurst from Jackson Heights to find Cannelle… which was the lone patisserie that BeerBoor skipped during his Macaron Day trip.  I hadn’t even known that was where we were heading, but when we arrived, I excitedly asked the woman behind the counter if there were any macarons.  She looked at me as though I were a little nuts, and flatly informed me that no, there were no more macarons.  Hmm. 

We were there for a dessert that made some list in Time Out New York, though –

The Creole. 

Which, not being that into sweets, both StB and I found a little too rich for our tastes.  For some reason, we were both under the impression it would be lighter, airier, fluffier, but this was pretty heavy and we ate only a little more than half of the $3.50 individual cake before we had to dump it and walk back to the train station. 

What are friends for if not to walk around and eat for hours?  Welcome home, StB.  You were missed.

Yvo says: None of the places we visited were particularly expensive, and all had very many tasty treats to explore and discover.  I highly recommend taking a similar walk around (and if you know me, invite me along!) and checking out all the goodies, eating to your heart’s content, as we did.  The most expensive meal of the day was, of course, the one sit-down place we visited, where even that came to just around $10 before tip.  Everywhere we went, despite clearly not being locals, everyone was nice to us, and our food was yummy! 
recommended, every single place, explore your way through the menu!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: horchata, tacos

I’ve been hearing about Ipanema from a buddy of mine (hi Adam!) for years now… literally.  He raves about this place almost as though it were his or family owned so a bunch of us gathered on a muggy day to check out the goodies…

Chorizo or was this kalabeza?  Spiced sausage, pretty tasty… I was picking this up and just eating it alone!

Various empanadas filled with yummies… I like the croquette-like ones, deep fried mashed potatoes. 

The extremely potent looking hot sauce.  I avoided this except to take a picture… Adam is insane.  He was eating the chiles like candy… as was Sir Eats-a-Lot, amusingly.  I was kind of scared watching them. 

Very strong caipirinhas… loads of tequilacachaca in there. 

M.’s seafood dish.  I think she liked it. 

Blondie’s coconut filled with shrimp curry and mashed potatoes…

Blondie couldn’t wait so she dove in. 

My steak topped with a fried egg.  Small complaint: my fried egg did not have a runny yolk.  HUGE complaint: that sauce is like crack.  Just looking at it, I want to reach into my monitor and tip that bowl, drinking all that glorious liquid into my bloodstream and just enjoying that high you get until your next fix… ahem.  I mean.  This came with fried disks of potato and rice, which I didn’t take pictures of, but dipping the potatoes into the sauce was amazing, and the rice was good in it too, but who cares.  I said fried potato.  OMG. 

Chris’s seafood dish… I hope he’ll chime in with his thoughts. 

CT’s “salad” which, she informed me, was good but didn’t really contain as much greens as she’d thought it would – as in, it was covered in meats and assorted animal parts.  Not that this is a bad thing, just surprised her since she wanted something small… looks really good though!  (Hopefully she’ll chime in with her thoughts as well!) 

Yvo says: So my dish was covered in liquid crack.  I think that alone would be worth a return trip.  The steak part was ok.  The egg was alright.  The fried potatoes covered in that sauce, though?  Amazing.  I clearly paid no attention to what everyone else ate nor what they thought and instead focused solely on my delicious sauce.  Mmm.  I have to say, though, as amazing and garlic-infused as that sauce was, I don’t think I could eat here more than once in a long while – it was way too rich for me to comfortably eat that often, as much as I’d like to…
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 15 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: mlhh