After an afternoon of upcoming dinner prep and relaxing, we headed out to meet our friend, TX, at Boqueria for tapas. It was the last day of the Blackboard Eats deal of 30% off for the restaurant, and we knew beforehand that we definitely wanted to take advantage of this deal. We had all been to Boqueria before and enjoyed their wide selection of tapas paying full price, so the discount was just icing on the cake.
.
They don’t take reservations for parties under 6 people, but with the monsoon going on outside, we were seated almost immediately. After ordering some drinks, we started off with eight tapas for the three of us. Some of the tapas were small, so we figured we could always order more later.

Cojonudo- Fried quail eggs and chorizo on toast. The yolk was nice and runny, but the egg flavor overpowered the chorizo.

CT says: This was my first choice and I enjoyed it! Though the chorizo could have been cut a little thicker, I liked the saltiness combined with the runny egg and crunchy toast. I’d get it again, for sure.

Espinacas a la Catalana- Sautéed spinach, garbanzos, pine nuts, garlic, raisins. I decided to order this to be “healthy.” It was quite tasty with the spinach being only lightly cooked. I could have done without the raisins.

CT says: I liked the raisins! I thought their sweetness went nicely with the garlicky spinach.

Pan con Tomate- Grilled bread rubbed with tomato, garlic and olive oil. Super classic and for $5 pre-discount a must order. I enjoyed the salty olives that complemented the sweet tomato.

CT says: A classic and delicious, though I wished it had a little more tomato. I’m a tomato-fanatic, so I could be nitpicking, but I wanted more.

Tartar de Pimiento y Pulpo at Soho- octopus Carpaccio, roasted red pepper, scallions, cornichon. This was one of the nightly specials and a must order for me since I love my octopus. The octopus was sliced very thinly and super tender. Surprisingly it wasn’t chewy at all since it usually is 99% of the time. Quite possibly the best octopus dish I have ever had. We all agreed it was the best dish of the night.

CT says: The octopus was quite soft and tender. I could have eaten this whole plate.

Bombas de la Barceloneta- Two beef and potato croquettes,“salsa brava” and garlic aioli. These were pretty good. Although the beef was a little dry, the potatoes were nice and creamy.

CT says: My second choice, and pretty decent. Not greasy at all. The beef could’ve been a little better and more flavorful, but I wasn’t complaining.

Txipirones- baby squid, frisée, romesco vinaigrette, tomato confit and crispy scallions. This was probably the least liked dish of the night. The squid was underseasoned and extra chewy while the frisée had a lot of brown leaves. I guess they can’t all be winners?

CT says: There was something off about the flavors in the dish. It wasn’t bad, but wasn’t really good either. Pass.

Albóndigas- Lamb meatballs in tomato sauce and sheep’s milk cheese. These were mediocre at best. It was pretty difficult to determine what kind of meat was used because it didn’t especially taste like lamb. The tomato sauce and the side of charred bread were the best parts of this dish.

CT says: The texture of these meatballs was really strange. Not quite dry, but almost gritty? However, I really enjoyed the tomato sauce flavor. It was pretty tangy was flavorful. I, too, soaked up the sauce with the crunchy toast.

Another special of the night was a flatbread with goat cheese, figs, arugula and a cured meat that I believe was jamon serrano. There were four nice slices on a super long board.

It was also another winner with the right mix of salty, sweet, creamy and crunchy. I would definitely order this again.

CT says: My last choice and fantastic! I love this flavor combination! Though a daily special, it is a must order if it is on the menu.

Apparently there was a rule that we couldn’t leave without getting the churros. It was a fair sized order of long churros. The chocolate sauce was nice and rich unlike what was served at Yerba Buena. Now that we are back from Panama, we have a little more self-control and were ok with leaving a churro behind.

CT says: These were good churros! Warm, crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. he chocolate, though not quite as thick as I’ve had in Spain, was thick enough to nicely coat each churro in chocolatey delight. I also appreciated that the chocolate wasn’t too sweet. Overall, a great finish to the meal!

All in all, Boqueria has a nice selection of well-made tapas. With the BBE discount and 2 drinks each, it came to a little less than $50 each. Not too bad for a Friday night dinner in Manhattan.

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

Our first stop was, of course, Flushing Mall, which is slated to close some time next year.  The food court downstairs is quite extensive, and though I took pictures of everything, I’m still not entirely sure what everyone got nor from where. 

I have no idea who ordered this, but I think it was TT and it may have been a spicy peanut noodle dish. 

Beer Boor went with some noodles and… stuff.  I’m really hoping the attendees chime in with their thoughts and dishes. 

MadJac ordered a pineapple shrimp dish. 

I know this was one of Hungry’s dishes, but I don’t know what it was exactly. 

This was one of two lamb burgers from Xi’an Famous Foods (it says so on the wrapper).  I still don’t like this dish all that much. 

I ordered a Taiwanese hamburger (so said the menu) from a stall a few down from Xi’an.  It was not what I expected it to be, and I didn’t finish it. 

CT also ordered a pork chop over rice, which came with a soup and pickled mustard greens on the side.  Though this took the longest to come, at $6 and change, that was easily the best deal on the table (or maybe not? I know my burger was $1.50).  That’s a HUGE platter! 

One of the things I kept trying to get here but always managed to get there too late – the special mango ice cream which was around $5.  TC ordered this, knowing how I kept missing it (thanks TC!) – shaved ice on the bottom, topped with mango syrup, condensed milk, cubes of fresh mango, mango ice cream… maybe there was more stuff.  I split this once a long time ago with Blondie, Brownie and Danny, and we had trouble finishing it back then… and now, with easily 8 people, we still had trouble finishing it.  Crazytown.  I love it though – sweet, decadent, bright flavors that just remind you of a nice summer day… yumm!!!

After we were finished with those dishes, I pushed everyone upstairs to get Korean Chinese Dumplings.  We got the “3 kinds” which means there are three ingredients in the dumplings – pork, chives, and cabbage I think – or was it scallions? not sure.  It came with the usual sides of chili sauce and a crunchy cole slaw/kimchi concoction that I enjoy greatly.

Unfortunately, though these have been a fond memory for me – I often get to the mall after they close upstairs, but not the downstairs food court – now that I finally got to eat them again, I noted with disappointment that they didn’t hold up to my memory of them.  No one was particularly impressed, and I was slightly embarrassed that I’d been drooling and waiting for these, but no one seemed to blame me too much.  We moved on. 

Of course, I love dumplings passionately, so next up was White Bear, which I comfortably say has the best Sichuan dumplings in chili oil out of anywhere I’ve tried.  I’ve tried a fair number of places.  The wrapper is delicate, thin, and silky, yielding to reveal a perfectly juicy meat nugget inside that bursts with juices and flavors.  The pickled greens on top with the chili oil add a lot of contrasting textures and flavors – slightly crunchy, slightly sour, slightly spicy, and just add up to easily, in my opinion, the best Sichuan dumplings.  Maybe even the best dumplings, period; I really enjoy these and can easily inhale one order alone, and then some.  (One order is 12 dumplings for about $4.) 

At this point, everyone was a little thirsty, so I took them over to Queens Crossing Mall.  My other friends had told me about Kung Fu Bubble Tea and raved about the grapefruit, so, though Hungry doesn’t quite enjoy bubble tea, we trooped through Paris Bakery and into the mall itself for our various drinks.  I don’t remember thinking this was particularly expensive – maybe $3, about average for bubble tea – and I got a small grapefruit, no bubbles.  It was very tart, not sugary sweet, and allowed the natural grapefruit flavor to shine through.  It should – it’s all natural grapefruit juice – so I liked this a lot, but if you’re big on sugar, you probably won’t like this. 

After that, we bid adieu to TT and CT – who had other obligations – and began the walk from Flushing through Corona, then onwards to Forest Hills. 

After a pleasant walk through Flushing Meadow Park, we found ourselves walking north on 108th Street.  A few blocks off Horace Harding into Corona, we smelled the most amazing thing, and realized: yep, we’re hungry again, as we faced Empanadas Cafe.  I was reticent, and let everyone else troop in and examine the menu of the small, unassuming shop, while I stayed just outside and looked at our surroundings.  I drive down this road occasionally and never paid that much attention to this place.  Could it be any good?

They offered three types of empanadas- an all natural, corn, and flour casing.  I don’t remember which was which, sorry! 

Everyone decided to order two each, except for me.  I took bites from everyone.  Hahaha!

Notice something?  Look closely at the top of the empanada.  It says chicken!  How cute is that?  And genius!

Here are two more. 

…and another two.  Useless pictures since I have no idea what’s in them, haha. 

 Here’s a beef empanada.  I thought it was okay. 

I’m not sure what this one was! 

This was beef & cheese.  I actually really liked this one a lot. 

The “hot sauce” that came with each order.  I liked this a lot – it was less hot, and more refreshing with a slight kick, very cilantro-y.  Within a week, I was creating my own version, which I’ll explain in another post.   

The surprise winner of the day?  This plantain & cheese empanada.  You wouldn’t think – or at least, I wouldn’t think that was a good combo, but the sweetness against the mild savoriness of the cheese was excellent.  I was ready to go inside and order my own. 

Chorizo and potato.  The inside part tasted fine, but I really didn’t like that style of empanada (this was the all natural something or other one).  I don’t think I was alone in that opinion for the day. 

Our next destination was actually The Lemon Ice King of Corona.  Beer Boor had decided to join us when Hungry and I talked about this tour, and had insisted on adding it to the list.  I can’t say I was angry about it!

Funny story; these were on display.  I thought they looked super perfect, so I took a picture.  Turned out they were plastic models of apples; they had the real ones in another display case.  Hahaha. 

Beer Boor ordered lime, and got cantaloupe for me.  I liked mine, though I thought it could be stronger in taste. 

Their menu of flavors!  Lots of flavors available. 

TC stepped up the FBM game and got two – lemon and pistachio.  I tried some of the pistachio and was impressed by the flavor, but not the color.   

After a brief sojourn to the park nearby to enjoy our ices, watch people playing bocce (bocce ball?), and – well, in a minute, you’ll see – Beer Boor decided to get another ice, watermelon this time.  This one was really, really good.  I think I’d get this the next time I go! 

In the park nearby was this stand set up, selling little treats.  Funny enough, they don’t have a set schedule for when they’re there, they don’t have a store front, so I can’t tell you when to visit them… but VISIT THEM. 

I bought a few small cheesecakes from them – I don’t even like cheesecake that much, but theirs was outrageous.  They make everything themselves, and they had cookies, cakes, Italian pastries like lobster tails and cannolis (which they filled on the spot for you).  TC bought a couple, so I imagine he can chime in with how he liked his! 

We walked from Flushing to Corona in this installment.  Next time: Corona to Forest Hills!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 27 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: dumplings, empanadas

In no particular order, here are the dishes we shared.

Grilled Calamari with Peppers.  I love my calamari, so this didn’t disappoint, but also didn’t wow me.

CT says:  This was a nice, light, start to the meal and a nice change from the usual fried calamari.  However, nothing very notable.

Salt Cod Croquetas with Romesco Sauce.  A standard tapa.  Nicely fried and the sauce gave the dish a good zip.

CT says:  These were good, but not very memorable either.  I agree that sauce was nice, but I’m not sure I would order them again.

Empanadas with chicken and chorizo.   I believe it was an olive tapanade on the spoon.  These were good, not greasy at all.

Check out the innards.  MMM!

CT says:  Sometime with empandas (or any stuffed-dish), I find myself wanting more filling.  However, these were stuffed with goodness!

A selection of cheeses. Idiazabal, Valdeon Blue, Caña de Cabra, Manchego.  I can only tell you that the Valdeon was the one on the center.  They were all nice, although the one on the top right was a little too soft for my palette.  There was also some honey and marmalade on the plate to spread on the cheese.

CT says:  Yummm cheese!  What’s not to like?!

Marinated Watermelon & Avocado Salad.  This was a great salad.   Super fresh with red and yellow watermelon.  A great summer dish!

CT says: This was one of my favorites – very well-balanced and refreshing!  I could have had this as a dessert-tapa.

Potted Duckling and Pork in olorose sherry wine.  This was quite tasty. I don’t really like pates too much especially the chopped chicken liver we got here, but this was quite nice.  Although it was a small jar, we couldn’t finish since it was super rich.

CT says: This was my favorite! Maybe TT couldn’t have finished it, but I certainly could have… only the strange looks and concern for my health stopped me.  It was light and creamy and delicious!

Check out that fatty, gelatinous, goodness!

We order the “Albondiguillas” Meat Ball Skewers on the 2nd round since CT forgot that her Dad wasn’t a fan of the Potted Duckling and Pork, or any pate. I am glad we got these.  They were really good.  I ended up sopping up the sauce on some of the bread we had, it was that good.

CT says:  These were some of the better meatballs I’ve had.  Super juicy!

CT’s Dad insisted on us ordering dessert.  He really had to twist our arms, but we finally relented.

He loves flan, so one of the dishes we got was Flan Tradicional de Chocolate with Kumquat Confitado, Saffron, Marcona Almonds.  This ended up being more of a chocolate panna cotta than a flan.  Since he expected flan, he was a little disappointed.

CT says: Definitely not a flan, but it was a nice, light, chocolate dessert.

We also got the Bunyols/Cinnamon Fritters with Salty Caramel, Maracuya, Peppercorn Rose, Orange Chocolate.  Yup, that does say Salty Caramel!  These little donuts were nice and made even better by the dipping sauces.  The caramel was had a good amount of salt in it so it was one of the better preparations I had.  It worked really well against the sugar and cinnamon from the donut.  The Maracuya aka passion fruit sauce was also very good.  It had a good sour/sweet balance.  I think we barely touched the chocolate sauce since the other two sauces were so good.  A must have dessert!

CT says: I would go back just for this! The fritters were really tasty on their own – crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.  And I’m a big fan a maracuya – I’ve rarely seen on menus in the city, if ever, so I was very excited to have this and it lived up to all my expectations! So good!

All in all, it was a great meal that gave us a good time to catch up with CT’s Dad.  Prices were reasonable, which was unexpected for that part of town.   We were there later on in the evening, so it wasn’t too crowded, but I am sure it was pretty busy after work.  Thanks again to CT’s Dad for a delicious treat.

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

The party was at the Phaidon Store in Soho. Basically a store for all of the publisher’s books. It was nice and bright in there and a good place for a party.

I arrived a little early, so the staff was still setting up. They have a pretty nice selection of books including the book from Ferran Adria of El Bulli.

First up, the Spanish Reds that were offered.

I tasted most of them and they were quite a nice accompaniment to the tapas. I neglected to take pictures of the sherry and white wine offerings. I guess there may be some readers who like whites over reds, sorry.

Cheers.

and here come the tapas…

Luckily they had little cards that explained what each of the items were since the servers only briefly mentioned that the item was.

First up was the Tortilla Espanolo, a potato and egg omelet. Served cold. Tasty, but pretty heavy on the starch. I am not really sure what the topping was. Mayo?

Next was the Chorizo con chocolate. This was a nice slice of chroizo on top of a small dab of Nutella-like chocolate on a crostini. I think the saltiness of the chorizo completely canceled out the sweetness of the chocolate resulting a mellow bite.

Next was the Paquetitos de Jamon, fava bean stuffed serrano ham bundles. Where was the Chianti?(Sorry, couldn’t resist.) This was a nice slice of ham, but the fava beans were completely lost on the inside.

The bar was also setup with tiny glasses filled with gazpacho. I am not a huge fan of cold soups, but this was tasty. I liked the additional touch of a few drops of olive oil on top.

One of the largest tapas was the Brandada and spring ramp pintxo, salt cod and ramps on crostini. The hipsters at the party must have been elated with this one. RAMPS! One of the more flavorful items. The consistency and taste of the salt cod was almost canned tuna-like. Not necessarily a bad thing.

The final item was Salpicon Ponte Vedra, chilled shrimp, onion, and avocado on a skewer. This was quite a refreshing bite. The presentation was nice in the large tapas bowl(no idea what the name would be).

After everyone sampled the different bites, the chef Alex Raij came out to talk for a few minutes. I’ll admit that I thought the chef was a man, so I was a little surprised when she stepped up to the microphone. She spoke about her love of tapas, her restaurants, and answered some questions from the audience.

It was a good sized party and everyone seemed to have a good time. It was a little intimidating being there as a blogger, especially with my tiny Kodak camera as compared to some of the monstrosities I saw being used by some of the more well-seasoned bloggers.

On the way out, we were given a small gift bag. Unfortunately it didn’t contain a copy of the actual book. It had a copy of the menu, a small travel guide for Seville, and a flyer for all of Phaidon’s food-related books. It was a nice evening and thanks to Phaidon & Alex for putting it together. I will have to add her restaurants to my list of places to check out.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: books, Tapas, TT

AB’s birthday passed recently (errr… a while back; I keep pushing this post off), so we gathered to celebrate.  Unfortunately, I was a bit late for dinner, so as soon as I sat down, I was handed a glass of strawberry sangria (which was surprisingly REALLY good!), and didn’t stop drinking for two hours, so the pictures are incredibly blurry.  As I had no hand in the ordering process, I also don’t know the names of everything.  Oops!

Slices of filet or steak of some sort.  Super tender – at one point, AB actually cut a piece in half by pressing the side of her fork down into a piece, I shit you not – and very flavorful, I liked this dish enough. 

Crispy potatoes with garlic aioli… oh hell yea!  The potatoes were super crispy on the outside, with a nice mash on the inside.  I really loved these and almost couldn’t stop eating them.  Uhhh, they help soak up alcohol?

Jamon Serrano, super blurry.  There isn’t much to say because I love jamon Serrano… and this was no exception.  Ok, well, there is one thing to say, I didn’t like how it was sliced without the fat on the side – this is a big point of annoyance to me when the fat is shaved off pre-serving, I want the fat, dammit – and it was served as is.  No bread to go with it or something; it’s just slices of ham.  I think a lot of places do this, but it always annoys me when they do.  Come on. 

Shrimp sauteed in garlic butter.  I didn’t find it offensive – since I’m not a huge shrimp fan – but nor did I find they would change my mind about shrimp.  They did, however, change my mind about the dish, since this is a very famous and popular tapas dish found at nearly every tapas place I’ve ever visited, and it’s rarely been good.  This was good enough that I decided perhaps I can start ordering it again… and hopefully I’ll hit some of the better versions out there instead of the crap I’ve been receiving. 

Mussels.  I also don’t like mussels that much.  These were okay.  I may have been a lil too inebriated, now that I think about it, because I don’t really remember specific feelings from most of the food… oops. 

Squid!  I liked these.  I remember that. 

My first plate.  I enjoyed what I ate. 

At the last minute, another dish made its appearance; a tortilla or potato & egg omelet.  Yeah, you can probably tell how much I’ve drank by this point in the night… a LOT.  It was as good as a potato & egg omelet can be.  Alright. 

The waiters came by, sang to AB, and delivered our desserts.  I’d ordered the tres leches, which was a bit too moist for me, and HB definitely was not a fan, decreeing it too sweet and… not to her liking.  It was alright otherwise though… a sweet ending, anyway. 

I must add here that the birthday girl and I were the only two drinking and we both shared 2 (small) pitchers of the sangria.  No one else was drinking! so I had to make up the slack for her which I did so gladly

Yvo says: Definitely some dishes here that were great hits, and others that were mediocre.  I would go back to try more small plates; I see this as a great place to just sit, chat, eat, and enjoy a lovely night with friends.  Girls’ night out, or even a date… but that pink-hued strawberry sangria really makes me think of girls’ night out, ya know? 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: