Amada Visited 4/24/2017 3.5 Forks

Amada  

250 Vesey St., 

New York, NY 10281

So this is going to be one of the worst reviews I've written - not that this place is bad but because I really can't remember too much from my meal because it was over 3 weeks ago at this point!  Eeesh, sorry about that.   Despite the fact that Amada has been open in my work building for at least a year now, I still hadn't managed to go because, let's be honest, as soon as work is over, I want to haul my ass out of there. 

But Amy, Anuja and I had just watched The Trip to Spain at the Tribeca Film Festival across the street (which by the way, the movie theater is AMAZING - super plush and fancy pants), so it only seemed appropriate that we have dinner at Amada which is a Spanish tapas restaurant.  We walked in around 8:30pm on a Monday and it was fairly empty but regardless it is a lovely and large space - which is such a nice change from when there was absolutely nothing in the area for so long. 

The menu was long and made up for traditional tapas dishes.  I had to take a phone call so by the time I got back to the table, Anuja and Amy had ordered for the table.  From what I can remember we got a cheese plate ($22), garlic shrimp ($14), crab-stuffed peppers ($12), soft scrambled eggs with uni ($16), cauliflower side  ($10), and the artichoke side ($12).  Everything was good but not mind blowing and some dishes were definitely better than others.  Also at those prices for small plates, I would expect those dishes to be amazing.  On the bright side, the waitstaff was super sweet and even brought out complimentary philly cheesesteak sliders (I had the "unenviable" job of eating all of them since neither Amy or Anuja could eat them) and those were pretty delicious.  They also mistakenly brought out an extra sangria which we got to keep it for free which was nice of them.  

I left feeling full but also feeling like my meal wasn't super memorable - that being said, I would come back here for a quick after work bite or if I went to the movies across the street again.  It's nice that it's an option with a generous waitstaff but it certainly is not a destination restaurant.  Total bill:  $49/pp with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Bergen Day 7 Visited 7/8/2016 3.5 - 4 Forks

Bar Barista  Øvregaten 12, 5003 Bergen, Norway                                                          3.5 Forks

After an early 4 hour boat ride, we arrived in our final destination of Bergen.  It's a quaint town that's actually Norway's 2nd largest city after Oslo.  Luckily, it has a bit more character and charm than Oslo.  One of the big things to do in Bergen is to take the funicular up to the top of the city to get a spectacular view of the whole town.  But before we did that, we needed to grab a quick bite to eat. 

I had read about Bar Barista in a few blogs and it was 2 blocks from the funicular, so we headed there.  So it turns out that it really is more of a bar/coffee shop than a cafe or restaurant.  It has a very limited food menu (some panini, waffles and crepes) but quite an extensive beer and beverage menu. The big draw here is the super fun an funky decor - it's loud, colorful and fun.  It's got a very hippie, artist vibe which was a nice change from the grey rainy backdrop (apparently it rains 4 or 5 days a week in Bergen).  I ended up getting a ham and cheese panini and a Belgian lager (175 krone = $20). It was a pretty basic but filling panini - I liked the fresh cut tomato salsa it came with as well as the garlic mayo that came on the side.  The guy next to me got a waffle (which is almost like a national dish in Norway) which looked delicious and sweet.  

I can't really say this is a great place to go to if you're hungry and really need to eat.  But if you're looking for a cool place to chill, relax and get something to drink, this is definitely a place to check out. 

Escalon Vetrlidsallmenningen 21, 5014 Bergen, Norway                                                     4 Forks

Lav and I had spotted this cute Spanish tapas place while we were walking around town and filed it away in our head as a place to eat for dinner.  While I never really had a terrible meal in Norway, I was ready for some more flavor and something besides fish and sandwiches.  Tapas seemed like a nice change up to our usual meals.

The menu here has your usual line-up of traditional tapas dishes - we decided on manchego (80 krone), shisto peppers (78 krone), potatoes bravas (69 krone), eggplant with goat cheese (72 krone), fried cheese balls (44 krone) and the meatballs (80 krone).  The manchego was simply cubes of cheese, so while it was good, it wasn't anything innovative or creative (although I did end up using it as a vehicle to sop up the tomato sauce that went with the meatballs and the garlic mayo in the potatoes).  The shisto peppers were a nice dish - it's what you would expect of these types of peppers: salty outside with a hint of heat on the inside.  The potatoes bravas were delicious but it was really because they were drenched in a super garlic-y mayo (who doesn't love that?).  The eggplant wrapped and filled with goat cheese was also great - the goat cheese wasn't overpowering and the eggplant had a nice soft but not too mushy texture.  The best dish of the nice was the fried cheese balls - gooey on the inside and crunchy on the outside - I could have eaten another order of it.  The only disappointing dish was the meatballs which is surprising since it's Norway and you'd think they would excel at meat.  They weren't super juicy or moist and seemed pretty one dimensional.

We got suckered into a chocolate cake dessert (98 krone) that in all honesty wasn't chocolate cake at all but some dry cookie with super sweet chocolate sauce dripped all over it - very unimpressive, especially for the price.

Overall, it was a nice reprieve from the slightly mediocre food we had been having in the small fjord towns.  It was a nice change of pace from Balestrand where there weren't a lot of options but there are most definitely lots of restaurants to choose from in Bergen - however, the prices definitely reflect it. Bergen is a cute town, especially the Bryggen area and the suburbs beyond that, but I wouldn't really spend more than 1-2 days here.  Most people use it as a jumping off place to the fjords, so we kind of did it backwards but I actually preferred it this way - it was nice to end of a quiet and relaxing note. Total bill:  800 Krone = $93 USD with tax, tip and drinks

Photo Credit:  TripAdvisor

The Bazaar Visited 11/17/2015 4 Forks

The Bazaar  1701 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139

I hadn't been to Miami in years so I was excited to spend some time down there for a few days for work in December.  Unfortunately the conference I was at was in Hollywood, FL which is about 40 minutes away from South Beach but it's a super cheap Uber ride away, so it was definitely worth the hassle to to head down there.  Laura, Jen and I decided to head out of Hollywood since there's nothing to do there and opted for dinner at The Bazaar, a Jose Andres establishment.  Funnily enough, he's a huge name in the DC food scene yet I've never actually been to any of his restaurants before, so I was glad to check this place out. 

It's located in the ever so chic SLS Hotel - a typical South Beach hotel right off the beach with a modern and trendy interior and equally modern and trendy clientele.  The menu here is split up into 3 sections of tapas:  Miami Meets the World which is a fusion of Miami and Asian food; Spain Yesterday which is more traditional Spanish food; and Spain Today which is Spanish food with a more modern slant.  Our waiter suggested about 8-9 dishes so we tried to pick something from each section:  from the Miami Meets World section we got the Bao Con Leche ($18), Dragon Fruit Ceviche ($17), and Brussels Sprouts ($10); from the Spain of Yesterday and Today we got the Fish en Papillote ($22),  Seared Scallops ($16) and Croquetas de Jamon ($13).  There were a bunch of other great sounding dishes but we were also saving room for dessert.  Our waiter was super nice and very helpful in navigating us through the super extensive menu. 

The Bao Con Leche is their version of steamed pork belly buns and it was quite tasty and satisfying. To be honest, I'm not really sure what the fusion part of this dish was as it seemed like a pretty straight forward pork bun to me.  Next we tried the croquetas de jamon - they were small bite size fritters made with delicious Iberico ham on the inside.  I would have preferred a bit more cheesey goodness on the inside but it was a great snack to pop in your mouth.  The 3rd dish was the Dragon Fruit Ceviche, which is one of their signature dishes.  It's super unique - they carved out half of a dragon fruit and served it with raw tuna, lemon, hibiscus and some dragon fruit foam on top.  I was a bit unsure of this dish at first but after a few bites I found it to be super refreshing and definitely something I've never had before.  The dragon fruit is light, mild and crunchy which was a good pairing with the tuna.  The brussels sprouts were your typical roasted version - tasty but definitely something that I could make on my own at home.  The main dishes were the fish en papillote (basically steamed fish wrapped in paper) and the seared scallops.  The fish was presented in dramatic fashion with 2 waiters coming to "unwrap" the fish but taste wise it was pretty mild and kind of boring - it was a nice and tender white fish.  The scallops were served with toasted pine nuts and while they were seared nicely and large in size, there were only 2 of them which was disappointing. 

We saved room for dessert and went for the s'mores chocolate cake ($12) and the key lime pie ($12). As many of you know, chocolate is not my favorite dessert but when it's described as chocolate cake served with toasted marshmallow, caramelized bananas, and peanut butter ice cream, it's hard to say no to that.  As delicious sounding as it was, it was just too rich and decadent for me, especially after having snacked on a bunch of rich and heavy dishes earlier.  As for the key lime pie (we had to order it since we are in Florida after all), it was a deconstructed version with all the different components splayed out on the plate separately.  It was sour, delicious and definitely reaffirmed that I'm much more of a fruity non-chocolate dessert gal. 

Overall, this was a fun Miami style dinner.  It's great people watching, lovely service and unique food.  It is a bit pricey given the amount of food served but it is South Beach, it's right on the main drag of Collins Ave, and tapas style, so it's to be expected that you'll pay a bit more.  Total bill: $102/pp with tax, tip and drinks 

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Day 3 & 4 (Dec 8-9, 2014) 3.5-4 Forks

Fellini  Rua Gal Urquisa 104, Rio de Janeiro - 3.5 Forks

When people think of Brazilian food, they mostly think of the all-you-can eat steakhouses, but they are also very big into buffet style food.   Their buffets are usually the kind where you pay for the weight of your food which can be dangerous if your eyes are bigger than your stomach.  Fellini is located on this dark, quiet street in Leblon and the customers there are generally local families.  

You basically walk in, grab a plate, load up with whatever you want and then weigh it at the end.   You can go back as many times as you want and each time you weigh your plate, they give you a sticker with the price of each weigh so that when you check out, they know how much to ring you up for.  There is a fairly large variety of food here ranging from salad, sushi, pastas, meats, fish, seafood, fried food and dessert.  The ingredients seemed fresh and the food looked like it was constantly switched out and not like it had been sitting there for hours.  I went straight for the sushi - the Asian mentality of me was trying to figure out how to get the best bang for my buck.  I loaded up on sushi, poke and some sliced meat.  This is also a great place if you are traveling with vegetarians or have other dietary restrictions because there literally is a little bit of something for everyone.   My first round of food was $12 USD and I must say that the quality of the food was pretty good.  I was a big fan of the salmon poke (or it tasted a lot like poke since it was cubes of raw salmon with soy and sesame oil with scallions) and the sushi wasn't too bad either.  The cut of meat was fine - it was a bit well done for me, but you can't expect too much for buffet style meat.   In all honesty, I most likely could have (and should have) stopped eating here but I went back for a second round of poke and spent another $10 for no real reason.  

I wouldn't say this was a culinary highlight of my trip but I did like that it was a no frills, easy meal. Sometimes you just don't want to eat at a full service restaurant and for those occasions eating at Fellini is just right.  Total bill:  $22 USD

Photo Credit:  Tripadvisor

Porcao R. Barão da Torre, 218, Rio de Janeiro - 4 Forks

Ahh - yes.  A trip to Brazil wouldn't be complete without a visit to a Churrascaria/Rodizio des carnes. It's essentially an all-you-can-eat steakhouse and you must come hungry.  Lav and I came for lunch after visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain and I'm sad to say that I probably wasn't hungry enough for it but I made it work.  Unfortunately there is no lunch price, so it was a very expensive lunch and they also don't have a price for just the salad bar for vegetarians.  So Lav really took one for the team by coming here because she ended up paying a lot for the salad bar which really isn't worth it.  But for me, I was in pig and cow heaven.  I started with a caipirinha as an afternoon beverage and they make it table side for you and really see all the god damn delicious sugar that they put in there but it was one strong drink.  Next I headed to the salad bar and again, loaded up on sushi and sashimi here.  Despite being called a salad bar, the really had a lot of seafood based dishes, which sucked for Lav and honestly I was so focused on getting to the meat portion of my meal that I completely skipped over them.  The sashimi was actually very good and was a good palate cleanser for me in between bites of meat.  

On to the meat.  I've been to Churracaria's in New York before and they work the same way here. You have a card and if you want them to come over with the meat, you turn the side green.  If you're full, then turn it to the red side that says stop.  But since we were here for lunch and it was pretty empty, they kept pushing meat on me the whole time despite having it turned to red when I was trying to clean my plate.   The waiters come around with all sorts of mouth watering meat on a skewer and then they slice off generous portions on to your plate.  I must have eaten every cut of beef known to man and they were all pretty delicious and juicy.  They also had sausage and chicken (it was like fried chicken but not totally battered) but I would say that if you have limited stomach space, stick with the meat.   I was able to put away almost 2 full plates of meat and a few rounds of sashimi and that was all I could handle.  The cuts of meat were flavorful on their own as none of it needed any sauce to it.  With your meat, you can get sides of fries, tomatoes, shrimp and some other appetizers but to me that's all just filler for the main course. 

Annoyingly, dessert is extra.  Lav got a slice of cheesecake to top off her meal but I couldn't eat anymore food.  While this place is great for meat eaters, it's a definite bummer for vegetarians.  They should either offer a lower price for just the salad bar or include a price with dessert for them.  I left lunch feeling uncomfortably full but I'm still glad I went.  I'm sure the scene would have been totally different at night for dinner but lunch was a much calmer experience which was just fine with me as I rolled home drunk and full. Total bill:  $63/pp with drink and dessert

Photo Credit:  Yelp

El Born R. Bolivar, 17, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro - 3.5 Forks

So this is a bit of an unfair review because I barely ate anything there because I was in in a meat coma from my lunch at Porcao earlier in the day, so there's not much for me to review.  But from what little food and drink I had, it seemed like a very lovely place to grab some tapas and sit outside with a lovely cocktail.  The tricky thing is that also also pass around  random tapas while you eat and at first we weren't sure what was going on.  Was it complimentary?  Well the answer is no, they are not free.  They like to pass around different types of house tapas and if you are interested, they put it on your table and write it down on your bill.  Luckily the food is pretty good here, so when we grabbed some kind of potato dish, we weren't too upset.  For our main dishes, we got our usual order of potatoes bravas and a tortilla and both were solid dishes.  

The location of the restaurant is on a lively and fun strip in Copacabana.  After checking out this neighborhood, I'm glad we chose to say in Ipanema as it's not quite as touristy and crazy as Copacabana.  But this restaurant would be a fun place to check out on any other occasion, just not after I had eaten an entire cow for lunch.  Total bill:  $25/pp 

Photo Credit:  Yelp 

Toro Visited 4/26/2014 4 Forks

Toro 85 10th Ave., New York, NY 10011

Holly and I spent an amusing afternoon at the auto show at the Javits Center and were starving by the time we left.  There's not much in the immediate area but just a short 15 minute walk down 10th Avenue gives you access to tons of really interesting and fun restaurants.  Toro is most well known for its location in Boston and they just opened one up here on the fringe of the Meat Packing district.  It's kind of hidden and the entrance is really on 15th street and 11th ave instead of 10th ave. Unfortunately we couldn't get a reservation but we walked in at 6:30 on the dot and we easily got a seat at the communal table which was great.   I always appreciate a restaurant that leaves tables open for walk-ins. 

The space here is beautiful and very airy.  It's got a modern vibe and fits right in with the Meat Packing area but it seemed a notch less pretentious than most of its peers in the neighborhood.  The menu is mostly tapas and a few paellas dishes as well.  The waitress recommended 2-4 dishes per person so we met in the middle and got 5 dishes.  The menu has your typical tapas dishes like tortilla Espanola and potatoes bravas but they also have more adventurous dishes that include uni, bone marrow, and tripe. We kind of decided on a mix of dishes:  Bocadillo de Erizos ($13), Tuna tartarte ($15), Maiz Asado con alioli y queso cotija ($10), braised lamb ($15) and the asparagus ($16).  The Bocadillo de Erizos is a small pressed sandwich with sea urchin, miso butter and pickled mustard seeds.  Amazing. You could definitely taste the sea urchin but it wasn't overwhelming or overpowering and it still had a nice creamy consistency to it.  I loved it.  The tuna tartare came in this funny sardine can and on the menu it said that it was served "with stuff that we really like."  So that actually turned out to be coconut milk and green curry flavoring - so yes it was stuff that I really liked.  It was delicious.  Next came the braised lamb and asparagus dishes.  The lamb meat fell cleanly off the bone and was a nice balance of meat and fat (although it could have been a smidge less fatty).  The asparagus was cooked nicely with the right amount of crunch to it and the actual vegetable was plumb and hearty - not some kind of wimpy, sad skinny stalk of asparagus you sometimes see in the grocery store.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) it was covered with hot aioli and cured egg yolk - so yeah, that kind of made the dish pretty unhealthy but they were still nice additions to the dish.  Last came the grilled corn..  I expected it to be one corn on the cob but it was actually 2 large cobs cut in half and drenched in farmer's cheese, aioli and red chili pepper.  I mean I love that combination but it was literally way too much of the condiment on it - I would definitely not recommend ordering it if you are on a date because you'll most definitely get cheese all over your face.  But if you're in the comfort of good friends, then by all means go for it.  Of course we saved room for some dessert and since it's a Spanish place we had to get the churros - which were nice and warm sugary.  I just wish they gave us more than 3 sticks.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by my experience here given it's trendy location and kind of lukewarm Yelp reviews.  Although it was tapas style, most of the dishes were actually pretty decently sized and I definitely left pretty full.   The menu's got great variety - so you'll find something for everyone there.  The table next to me got the bone marrow and beef cheeks and it looked fantastic, so I definitely want to order that the next time I'm there.  Total bill:  $78/pp with tax, tip and 2 drinks each

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Spain Restaurant Visited 12/10/2013 2.5 Forks

Spain Restaurant  113 W 13th St (b/t Avenue Of The Americas & 7th Ave), New York, NY 10011

Spain is one of those restaurants that you really want to like.  It's on a very cute street in the Village, it's tucked away on the bottom floor of a brownstone and when you walk in the waitstaff are all really old men who seem to have worked there for 50 years.  Plus everyone there seems like they have been coming here for years - so it just has this really homey feel.  But sadly, it's not a home I think I will come back to. 

It's kind of chaotic when you walk in because there's no host or any organization.  This cute old man asked us if we wanted to sit in the front or back and before we could say anything he just squeezed us into this table in the corner.  We sit down and he immediately asks "you want wine?"- which is definitely not a bad thing but I just needed a minute to really get situated.  Instead we opted for a small pitcher of red sangria since we were in a Spanish tapas place.  Luckily we got our drinks quickly but alas no menu appeared for a while.  While the sangria was tasty, it wasn't super strong and went down a bit quickly.  We (or shall I say I) was out of sangria before the meal arrived.  The good thing is that you do get some free tapas while you are waiting: we got a plate of pretty tasty meatballs covered in tomato sauce and a plate of thinly sliced potato with hot sauce on it.   The menu isn't your typical tapas menu, it seemed to have more entree sized dishes than small plates, so my date and I decided to split the paella valenciana which came with seafood, chicken and chorizo.  The waiter did ask if we wanted lobster on top of it, but we declined.  As we were waiting for food, I noticed a lot of very large groups coming in.  It was weird because the place wasn't that big but when I went to the bathroom later I noticed a huge back room that seemed full of 10+ groups.  Usually when you order paella it usually takes a long time to cook, but this one didn't take that much time.  It's a huge order - definitely more than enough for 2 people and I would say it's probably enough food for 3 or 4 people.  At first glance I was really excited because it was chock full of clams, mussels and shrimp.  But sadly, I was really disappointed by the rice which is such a key component to a good paella.  It tasted pretty bland with not a lot of seasoning or flavor.  It almost tasted like the kind of rice you get out of box.  This was pretty disappointing because there was so much of it.  Luckily, the seafood part was pretty decent - I thought the clams and mussels were the best part.  It was nice that there were lots of bits of shrimp, but they were all a bit overcooked and dried out.  I felt bad leaving almost half of the dish on the table, but it was just too much for me and I wasn't in the mood to sit around for the next few hours hoping that I would be interested in a round 2. 

I had high hopes for this place (and the date!) but sadly neither really lived up to my expectations.  It's not a knock on either the restaurant or my date, I guess just neither were the right fit for me.   The other downside of the restaurant is that it's cash only.  Total bill:  $41 total with tax and tip

Photo Credit:  Yelp

The Purple Pig Visited 11/5/2013 4 Forks

The Purple Pig 500 N Michigan Ave., (between Grand Ave & Illinois St), Chicago, IL 60611

Night 2 in Chicago for work and this time it was my turn to pick a place.  A food loving co-worker of mine had sent me a list of recommendations she got from Food and Wine magazine and The Purple Pig was the only one within walking distance from the hotel, so Eric and I decided to give it a shot.  The "entrance" is very hidden, so you really have to look for it, but it's right near the river across from the Tribune building.  Heads up that it's one of the narrowest restaurants I've been to in a while, so be prepared to be standing on top of each other.  The wait we were quoted was 45 mins to an hour, but the bar was first come first serve, so we stayed close to the bar in case two seats came up.  Luckily, within 20 minutes, two seats at the bar came up, otherwise, I could have totally seen us waiting at least an hour to sit down. 

The menu here is Spanish/Mediterranean style tapas - there are a bunch of antipasti dishes, a whole section on fried plates, paninis, meat and cheese boards, and then larger sized tapas plates.  The waitress told us that about 4 plates were enough for 2 people, so we started with the fried chorizo stuffed olives (that was for Eric since I really don't like olives that much), shaved brussels sprouts, milk braised pork shoulder in mashed potatoes, and the prosciutto stuffed squid (that was mostly for me).  The fried olives came out first and I was willing to give it a shot since my taste buds have changed a lot over the years and well, it was fried, so how can you not like it? Yeah - it still wasn't my thing.  I don't think it was a bad dish, but I just don't like olives so I let Eric basically eat the entire dish of 5-6 olives.  The shaved brussels sprouts was a raw sprout dish with pecorino and parmigiano cheese grated on top of it.  It was a nicely done dish but very similar to most other brussels sprout dishes I've had in a lot of places these days.  Next came the star of the night, the milk braised pork shoulder smothered in mashed potatoes and gravy. The dish looks pretty small but it is super filling and rich, so don't let the size of it fool you.  The pork is super juicy and delicious and the fact that it's covered in a smooth creamy coating of mashed potatoes and a layer of gravy only makes it even better.  It is a very heavy dish that melts in your mouth, but totally worth the calories.  If there's anything you must get here, it's this dish.  Full fat heaven and is really the reason why I gave this place 4 forks.  Next came the prosciutto and breadcrumbs stuffed squid.  There are about 3-4 body sections of the squid stuffed with the mixture.  It was nicely grilled but I didn't think it really needed the stuffing.  It would have been totally fine on it's own and the stuffing kind of overkilled the dish a bit, but I wolfed down 3 of the 4 pieces (with some of the stuffing still left on my plate).   Even though I was pretty full, we had to give dessert a shot.  I usually split a dessert for the table, but since we were expensing this, we both ended up getting our own desserts (bad idea).  Eric got the fried donuts with cinnamon and sugar on it and I got the apple crisp. I'm honestly not even sure why I got it because I could totally been ok with just having 1 of the donuts and been fine with ending my evening that way.  So I really can't do the apple crisp a just review since i had about 2-3 bites, except for the fact that it was warm, the ice cream was good and there were a lot of oats/grains in it to kind of fool you into thinking it's mildly healthy for you.  

This place was a nice reprieve from all the cheesy tourist spots in the city (although the place does have its fair share of tourists given its location).  But it's a tiny space that makes it really hard for one to have patience and wait for a table to open up.  As with any smallish restaurant, it's really loud and noisy, so if you want to have a quiet night out, this is not the place for you.  Again, as with all my usual tapas reviews, it is hard to properly evaluate the full tapas menu when it's only 2 people, but I think we got a good representation of the menu there and there were a few star dishes making it worth the trek.  Total bill with tax, tip and drinks: $120 for 2

Photo Credit:  Yelp

Pipa Visited 11/30/2012 3 Forks

Pipa 38 E 19th St., (between Broadway & S Park Ave), New York, NY 10003

Before there was ABC Kitchen, there was Pipa.  It's located next to/inside the ABC store and it's beautifully decorated with gorgeous pieces of furniture from the store.  Pipa was one of the first tapas places I had been to when I first moved to NYC, so I am surprised at how it continues to still be so busy after all these years.

I walked in at 6pm on a Friday night expecting it to be fairly empty and the dining room was about 1/4 full.  However, when I asked for a table for 2 the host told me "yeah, I have a table for you but I need it back at 7:30pm for a reservation. You should be fine to eat in an hour and a half."  Now, on one hand I totally get trying to manage to those who have made reservations.  I know that if I were the one who made the reservation and found out that my table wasn't ready, I would be annoyed.  But on the other hand, it is their job as hosts to properly revenue manage their tables without having to be annoying or rude to their customers.  If they know on average that a table takes 1 1/2 hours to turn over, then they should just know that in their head, seat me, and let me enjoy my meal without causing me any anxiety with me while I eat my meal.  Luckily my waitress was super nice and never made it an issue.  I usually don't like having tapas with just one other person but for some reason this time Lily and I ordered enough food to fill us up while still ordering enough variety to make it fun.  We ordered the  jamon croquetas ($10), the beef meatballs ($12), the tortillia espanola ($8), and the baby chorizo ($10).  The chorizo dish came out first and the 8-9 pieces of chorizo were sizzling in oil in the small tapas plate.  After it finally calmed down, I looked at the dish and it really just reminded me of mini hot dogs in a tapas plate.  Now don't get me wrong, I like a good hot dog every now and then but this was supposed to be chorizo which should have a more spicy and a bit tougher in texture but the whole time I just thought it was a pig in a blanket without the blanket.  Next the rest of our tapas came out.  The meatballs needed a bit more seasoning.  They just tasted kind of blah and didn't really wow me.  Luckily the croquetas and tortilla were both pretty good but since they are Spanish tapas standards and I expect dishes like these to be tasty.  The croquetas were nice and crispy on the outside and creamy and rich on the inside.  The tortilla had a good mix of potato, egg and onion and was served with a mayo like topping.  How can you go wrong with that combination?  I do also want to give a shout out to the red sangria.  It was the right balance of sweet fruit and red wine.  But if you plan on getting more than 2 glasses per person, you're better off getting a pitcher.

While I wouldn't go shouting from the roof about the food here, I will say that it's probably the first tapas place that I can remember in a long time where I actually left pretty full.  Almost always when I get tapas with only 1 or 2 other people, I am also left starving after spending $50+.  The total bill here with 2 glasses of sangria each was $53/pp including tax and tip.

Photo Credit: Yelp

Tertulia Visited 1/12/2012 3.5 Forks

Tertulia 359 6th Ave, New York, NY 10012

Tertulia has been on just about every "hot" restaurant list lately, so naturally I had to check it out for myself.  They don't take reservations so I would definitely advise anyone to get there early (and they don't seat incomplete parties).  Jenn and I got there at 6:30pm on a Thursday which was the perfect time because it was crowded but we were immediately seated.  Within 30 minutes the entire place was full.

I love Spanish Tapas but it is a bit difficult to order with just two people.  Granted Jenn and I were both hungry but there's only so much we can order.  The waiter suggested about 4-5 plates which I think was the right amount.  Everything looked great and THEN the waiter reads off the specials and we were totally thrown for a loop.  All the specials sounded amazing but the one that really got our mouths salivating was the Tosta Bogavante which was lobster toast with charred Burrata cheese ($11).  I mean what the hell could be better than LOBSTER and BURRATA CHEESE?!?  Then we ordered the Tosta huevo roto y jamón ibérico ($11) which is crushed egg, potato and Iberico ham on toast, the Coles de bruselas ($9) which was Brussels sprouts and pork belly, the Chipirones Rellenas ($14) which was squid stuffed with black rice and sausage and served with roasted peppers, and Croquetas de Jamón Ibérico ($11) which is Iberico ham croquettes.  The lobster toast came out first and there was just 1 piece.  In hindsight, I wish I had ordered 10 of them.  It was totally amazing.  There was a lot of chopped lobster on a bed of charred cheese.  Heaven.  Then the crushed egg toast came out (there were 2 of them) and that was also totally delicious.  The potato was almost mashed in texture and the ham was thinly sliced and tasted like butter.

Based on these first two dishes I probably would have given this place close to 5 forks.  So I had really high expectations for the other dishes.  All three of them came out at the same time.  Immediately I noticed that the Brussels sprouts looked totally charred and seemed overcooked.  They were practically black but I was still willing to give it a try.  And well, they tasted like charred sprouts and they were over salted as well.  Also, there was like 1 piece of pork belly, I barely saw any of it. The croquettes were fine but very creamy and I didn't really taste the ham.  I was really excited about the squid but they seemed pretty small and the rice didn't have a whole lot of flavor - this dish actually could have used more salt.  Despite all that, I still had a craving for sweets.  For dessert, we ordered the Torta de Manzana ($7) which was apple cake, rum ice cream, and cider caramel.  The cake was slightly toasted on the outside and warm and soft on the inside.  The ice cream definitely tasted like rum and it was a great combination to the cake.  The dessert was great but didn't quite make up for the 3 other dishes that were a bit lacking.

I do want to mention that our waiter was great and super sweet.  Also, if you are going there to have a conversation with someone I would strongly suggest you go somewhere else.  The place is LOUD and only gets louder as it fills up.  At one point I felt like I was screaming at Jenn when she was only 1 foot away.  Our total bill with 3 drinks each and tax and tip: $85/pp - even though we got lots of drinks and dessert, that is a bit steep per person, especially given that each plate was only a couple mouthfuls.

Photo credit: Yelp.

Aria Wine Bar Visited 7/6/2011 3.5 Forks

Aria 117 Perry St., (between Hudson St & Greenwich St), New York, NY 10014

Aria is one of those places in the West Village that is just painfully cute.  I've actually walked past this place a few times before and always commented on its cuteness.  So I was pleased when my friend Holly suggested that we grab a drink at this place last Wednesday night.  Even on a Wednesday, this place was packed.  We were lucky to grab two bar stools by the window. 


The decor here is rustic charm, but I generally am not a huge fan of communal seating mostly because it doesn't give you much privacy and it makes for just a much louder setting.  The place is a wine bar and they serve tapas as well.  Their wine was actually fairly reasonably priced as I was able to get a good tasting malbec for $6/glass (although I am no wine snob so who knows if it was really a fine wine or not).  They had a fairly good selection of tapas, cheeses and meats.  But when our waiter read us the specials, we were hooked.  From the specials list we ordered the mushroom crostini, the bufala cheese and the mussels.  We should have asked how much the specials were, but since all the tapas on the menu were listed at $9, we assumed they would be in the same ball park.  Big mistake but to be discussed later.  The wine there is served in your not so traditional wine glasses.  In fact, they are served in these almost jam jar like cups, which I think was weird considering it wasn't a quirky hipster type place that usually serves drinks in mason jars.  


The mushroom crostini and bufala came out first.  The crostinis were pretty huge and toasted well.  They were covered in a variety of mushrooms and melted cheese and it was delicious.  Meanwhile the bufala was totally not what I expected because the plate was huge and came with a tomatoes and lots of prosciutto.  The cheese was really soft and and if you've had buffalo mozzarella before, it's got a different consistency that your typical mozzarella.  It's much wetter and falls apart much easier.  Taste-wise, the cheese, tomatoes and meat all went really well.  Everything was going well with our 1st two dishes and we continued to order more wine.  Then our mussels came out and it was a disappointment compared to the first two dishes.  The mussels were tiny and dry and the only redeeming quality of the dish was the garlic, white wine oil it was simmering in.  That part was so good that I was sopping up bottom of it with my bread, but as I was dipping my bread, that's when I noticed that our table was totally slanted and a bunch of oil dripped all over me because my plate was so tilted.  

Overall, this place is a great place if you want to grab some wine and small plate and just be surrounded by rustic cuteness.  But I was a bit put back when we got the bill and discovered that our bufala was $16 and the mussels were $14!!  If I had known that, I'm not sure I would have gotten them as those prices are much higher than the prices of all the other tapas on the menu.  Total bill was $48/pp with tax and tip but includes 3 glasses of wine each.   

Socarrat Nolita Visited 1/29/11 3.75 Forks

Socarrat Nolita 284 Mulberry St, (between Jersey St & Houston St), Manhattan, NY 10012

 I had been to the original Socarrat in Chelsea when it was one of the most buzzed about restaurants a few years ago.  The location is tiny and takes no reservation so it was fairly difficult to eat there.  But when you were able to sit down, the food was delicious.  The paella was slightly overcooked and crispy on the bottom which one would think wouldn't taste good, but the waiter would come by and personally scrape the bottom where the rice had the right amount of crunch and flavor.  So I was very excited that they opened a bigger location downtown.  

Lav and I made a date to meet there at 6pm when it opened so that we wouldn't have to wait for a table and to make a 8pm movie.  This location was indeed bigger but not huge.  It has a similar long communal table concept with a few small tables.  Since it was just the two of us, we decided to get one veggie paella and then one tapas each.  I was all set to get the sizzling garlic shrimp but when they told us the croquette special of the day ($9) was shrimp, I decided to get that instead.  Lav got the egg tortilla dish ($8) because it's always a great classic tapas dish that's hard to avoid.  The croquettes were quite good, perfectly crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside with a tasty side of a mayo-like sauce.  While the shrimp inside was good, I prefer the usual croquettes with ham.  After seeing other people get the garlic shrimp dish, I kind of wish I got it in addition to my croquettes, but that would have just been too much food with the paella.  The paella came out ($22/pp) and it was HUGE.  It's a bit too much for just 2 people, but if you're hungry, you can come very close to finishing it.  The veggies in it were very good and it had lots of variety: peas, artichoke, cauliflower, tomato, eggplant, mushroom, and others.  The rice was nicely seasoned with saffron but the one disappointment was that the bottom was not burned or crispy at all.  The waitress came to "scrape" the bottom, but there was nothing really to scrape.  All the rice was soft, slightly overcooked and not crunchy.  This didn't make it bad tasting but after seeing how other tables had the crunch, it was a bit sad.  They had a few good sounding desserts and we decided to get the chocolate beignts, which was puffy pastries infused with tons of chocolate on the inside and fried on the outside.  It was good but too chocolate-y for me.  With 1 glass of sangria ($9) - which was ok, it could have been stronger, and 2 glasses of red wine ($12), our total bill came out to be $65/pp with tax and tip.  It's a bit annoying that they charge per person for the paella because given its size, it's perfect for three people but to have each person pay $22 is a bit ridiculous.  While I did enjoy the veggies and felt "healthy" eating it, I would come back and try the seafood version as it's just not paella without copious amounts of shellfish.

Boqueria Visited 7/30/10 3 Forks

Boqueria  171 Spring St, (between Broadway & Thompson St), New York, NY 10012

I had heard about Boqueria a while ago but it's always hard to have tapas with a smaller group of people.  But when I got a BBE's coupon, I figured I'd go try it out even though I was only going with one other person. 


We went at 6:15pm on a Friday and it was surprisingly crowded already.  We started with a pitcher of mixed berry sangria ($38), which produced about 3 glasses per person.  While it was definitely tasty and a good drink for the summer, I felt like it had zero alcohol in it.  You'd think after 3 glasses, you'd at least be a bit buzzed or something, but it was like drinking fizzy fruit infused water.   Swaroopa and I started with 4 different tapas.  (1) Spanish omelet (2) heirloom tomato salad (3) ham croquettes and (4) potatoes bravas.  The omelet came out within 5 minutes of us ordering which I was a bit suspect about.  I think they just have a giant omelet in the back that they just slice up when people order it.  It was good but not amazing...it could have used a bit more salt and it came apart pretty easily when you cut it.  The tomato salad was fabulous and my favorite part of the meal.  It came with cucumber and ricotta cheese and lots of beautiful looking tomatoes.  Since Swaroopa doesn't eat meat, I had the croquettes to myself.  They had a variety of croquettes (they had a wild mushroom version and another one that I can't remember) but I got the special one with ham in it.  It was good but I felt like the first one I had was a bit hollow - not stuffed or creamy enough.  The 2nd and 3rd one were a bit better and more stuffed with ingredients, but I think I've had better ones else where.  The potatoes were seasoned well and there were lots of it, so it was pretty filling.  But after these 4 dishes, we were still hungry, so we were going to order the salt-cod fritters, but apparently they do come with ham in it (although it doesn't say it on the menu...they really should list on there in case people who don't eat meat order it thinking it's meat-free), so we ordered our backup plan, the garlic shrimp.  This came out pretty quickly too and was probably the most disappointing part of the meal.  The shrimp were very small and soaking in some flavorless olive oil.  There was barely any garlic in there and the oil tasted watered down.  The table next to us had ordered the same thing and were shocked by it too and wanted to return it, but didn't. 


We ordered a dessert of churros with chocolate, which was pretty good, but my theory of it's difficult to get fried food wrong still stands.  I noticed that the table next to us had also ordered some grilled peppers with salt (what I had at Mercat and loved!) but these peppers seemed much smaller in size.  I should also mention that the seats are waaay too close together.  Our waiter barely had any room to maneuver in between tables to take orders.  In fact, several couples did sit down next to us but then decided to leave when they discovered that they were practically sitting in our laps.  I will say that the service was quite good and our waiter was super nice and friendly.  The total bill was $91 but with the BBE coupon, it was $62.  I'm glad I had the coupon b/c otherwise I would have thought it wasn't worth the price and for good tapas I would still prefer Mercat instead.