Restaurant experiment: El Paso Taqueria

El Paso Taqueria

1642 Lexington Avenue between 103^rd and 104^th Streets

New York, NY 10029

212-831-9831

http://www.elpasotaqueria.com

Lily told me that El Paso was pretty good.  The story goes that it used to be housed in a smaller space across the avenue, but then it outgrew that place and leaped on over Lex.  This space is very Mexican-looking, with windows/doors that can be thrown open in warm weather, tile, big beaded rosaries, and so forth.

I embarrassingly admit that I do not exactly remember what we ordered.  The website’s menu and MenuPages aren’t really helping.

Here is a picture, so you can at least look at what we ordered.  I am a fan of avocado and really liked the pork with pineapple and avocado.  Dave and I also liked the chicken enchiladas with green sauce though it was too spicy for me.

Now for the crowning achievement, the dessert.  Our server, who Dave declared was an aspiring actor, had sort of a polished way about him.  Was he playing a character?  A guy playing a waiter?  He kept saying the phrase “my friends” all the time which was sorta strange.  But anyway, he recommended a special dessert not on the menu called rollitos de canales.  It was described as a deep fried cinnamon tortilla wrapped around bananas and chocolate sauce.  Dave and I were sold.  And we weren’t disappointed after all the hype.  Mmmmmmm.  We left wanting more!  Our spoons were put to good use, wiping up every bit of the sugar and raspberry sauce left of the plate.

Witness:

Ay, dios mio!  Muy delicioso!

Restaurant experiment: Dos Caminos

Dos Caminos

373 Park Avenue South between 26th and 27th Streets

New York, NY 10016

212-294-1000

http://www.brguestrestaurants.com/restaurants/dos_caminos_park/index.php

Mike, Douglas, and I came here for Restaurant Week lunch, and we didn’t even order off the Restaurant Week menu.  Oh, the irony!

The Two Paths is very popular with the businessperson crowd, but we were bequeathed a nice semi-circle booth.  Of course we had to start off with the guacamole.  Dos Caminos is famous for their tableside freshly mashed guacamole; I’ve had it before, and it’s a knockout.  Even though it contains cilantro, I can rise above that just because it’s so scrumptious.  Indeed!  And the chips are hot, crunchy, and salty: the perfect complement.

I ordered a passionfruit margarita and the carne asada burrito ($17), “grilled marinated steak, chihuahua cheese, pico de gallo, baby arugula, spinach tortilla.”  I requested no pico due to all that pesky cilantro.  And it was most excellent.  That has to be the most expensive burrito I’ve ever eaten however.  The meat was rockin.  The salad on the side was too spicy and will earn a thumbs down from me.  

Douglas and Mike were game for dessert, so I went along.  We ended up with the cajeta sundae which was “vanilla bean ice cream, roasted banana ice cream, chocolate & cajeta sauce, cajeta sabayon, cascabel salted peanuts.”  Even with only a third of it, I was stuggling; the thing was massive.  The brittle-like piece in the middle?  A dessert in itself for real.

What is cajeta, you ask?  According to trusty Wikipedia, it’s a gooey syrup sauce made from caramelized milk.  Ah, the caramel-like sauce in there.

And what is that milky shot, you ask?  That is a delight called horchata.  It was new to me.  Our waitress Jenny (ask for her if you go to this Dos Caminos) gave them to us on the house.  Ah, refreshing!  This version of the almond-y milk beverage had a small dollop of sorbet in there.

Oops, lunch went over.  Two hour “business” lunch.  Yeah, that’s right.

For Mike: 4.5 out of 5 stars (rating Time Out NY style)

Restaurant experiment: Cafe El Portal

Cafe El Portal

174 Elizabeth Street between Kenmare and Spring Streets

New York, NY 10012

212-226-4642

Cafe El Portal is one of those places which is sort of like a hole-in-the-wall but not really, or more like a fake hole-in-the-wall. It’s tiny but not so tiny in that you’re sitting in your table neighbor’s lap. Slightly low on the lights, cheery atmosphere verging on nearly raucous.

Stacy and I got the party started with margaritas. If you are a margarita enthusiast like me, you should find something you like on the drink menu. Frozen, on the rocks, plain, fruity…you’re set. Stacy got the prickly pear non-frozen, and I opted for the frozen passion fruit. Yeah! Just what I needed post-another day at the grind and pre-rocking out.

For my meal, I had the burrito de tinga, “tortilla filled with beans, rice, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and beef cooked in tomato/chiporle sauce” ($10.50). The menu definitely read “chiporle” sauce (as it does on MenuPages), but after Googling, I wonder if it’s supposed to be chipotle and was a typo. Anyway, soft beef and a hint of creamy sweet cinnamon I detected, delightful! I was giving myself a pat on the back for eating it all.

Caveats: no complimentary chips and salsa (though I believe this doesn’t exist in NYC period), no credit cards besides American Express (dumb!). Aside from that, I would recommend the Portal if you’re bopping around the Nolita area. Muy bien.

Restaurant experiment: Hop Devil Grill

Hop Devil Grill

129 St Marks Place between First Avenue and Avenue A

New York, NY 10009

212-533-4468

http://www.hopdevil.com/

After celebrating the births of That Girl and This Girl by burning up the microphones at karaoke bar Planet Rose, the remainder of the celebrants strolled down Avenue A on a particularly mild April evening in search of a restaurant. Being as it was late on a Saturday night, the options were limited unless you wanted to wait hours, but no one wants to do that.

Hop Devil Grill came to the rescue, especially since Tex-Mex is usually agreeable to all sorts of guests. The place kind of fooled us since it had a secret annex attached to the restaurant, like its lounge/bar segment off to the door. What was annoying that the door that separates the restaurant from the lounge kept slamming shut whenever anyone would pass by. The host with the southern drawl and “ya’lls” seated us at some padded furniture at the calm back area of the secret annex.  How very A list!

Our waitress looked like she was about to go to a cocktail party after her shift, in a V-necked black dress. It was very abnormal eating dinner while in lounge seating. The small tables were too low to eat conveniently, so I followed Shanna’s lead and put my plate in my lap. Everyone agreed that the food was fine. I got kind of a college vibe from Hop Devil; the restaurant place would seem at home in any Division I football-centered college town.

The complimentary chips came with some sort of salsa/dip, but I didn’t try the dip. Since I ate too many cookies during karaoke, I tried to order something small. That happened to be the southwest chicken sandwich ($8.99): “cajun seasoned chicken breast, melted cheddar, crispy bacon, caramelized onions & chipotle remoulade.” This sandwich was a hot mess to eat with my hands and with that unique table situation. The bun was primarily to blame, somewhat wimpy. Had to use my fork and knife. The innards of the sandwich were heavy/oily. But cheese and bacon, how can you go wrong? You can’t. Your stomach is grumpy at you for a while, but it forgives you because it can’t be mad. That should be a rule: never pass up cheese and bacon.

All in all, That Girl and This Girl had a whale of a birthday party.  Cheers all around.

Restaurant experiment: Itzocan Bistro

Itzocan Bistro

1575 Lexington Avenue at 101st Street

New York, NY 10029

212-423-0255 

http://www.itzocanbistro.com/

The budding East Harlem/Upper East Side border restaurant scene boasts the delightful Joy Burger (almost wrote Joy Division) and Itzocan Bistro, its colleague up the block. 

It was something around 10 degrees outside on a Friday night.  Lily and I dragged our frozen selves to Itzocan which was cozy and bustling but not packed or with a waitlist.  We occupied a four top betwixt the door and a radiator emitting funky noises.  Perhaps it was possessed.

I ordered the “adobo marinated duck breast with sweet potato and Malbec reduction” ($18), requesting the duck medium.  The duck was superb, with some crispy skin and the right amount of fatty flavor.  The veggies on the side were nothing remarkable: beans, corn, bok choy.  The mashed sweet potato was fine but could have used a bit more of the seasoning/salt.  Mmm, Malbec.

Service was friendly though not attentive.  Several times we had to stare the guy/girl down to get them to come over to our table.  The dinner went on and on because of that.  Lily and I went for desserts which were all around $6, and lots of them featured booze.  Tequila chocolate cake was our choice.  Very moist but light.  It usually is accompanied by brown sugar ice cream but due to the -1 wind chill outside, we asked for a substitution, and they were more than happy to swap; we got berries in sauce.  How kind. 

Be warned.  Cash only.  That just grinds my gears!  But otherwise, I might dub Itzocan Bistro that overused phase “a hidden neighborhood gem.”

Restaurant experiment: Pedro’s Spanish American Restaurant

Pedro’s Spanish American Restaurant

73 Jay Street at Front Street

Brooklyn, NY 11201

718-625-0031

Pedro’s seems almost out of place in the shiny gleaming brand new DUMBO part of Brooklyn where all the shops have a coat of new on them. It’s a low key Latin food joint on the corner, very laid back with multicolored lights and murals and no pretentiousness. There might be table service, but we ordered at the counter and brought our food to a spare table outside. Some bug bit me so that kind of tainted the whole Pedro’s experience.

Itchiness aside, I ordered beef tacos dorados (fried tacos) which were simply beef stuffed into deep fried taco shells with fixins piled on top, like sour cream, cheese, and avocado. I complained to Kora about a lack of cheese since I’m a cheese monster, and she encouraged me to ask for more which I was hesitant to do but did because I wanted more cheese to complement the plain beef. Luckily a guy on staff was kind enough to comply with my request; I’ve been traumatized by asking for sour cream one time in the West Village and being charged $2 for it. Bleh. Kora liked her cheese tamales, and Stacy found the Cuban sandwich to be filling and yum. Her margarita looked delightfully thirst quenching; I wish I had gotten one. The guacamole wasn’t that pure; it was adulterated with lots of onion which Kora didn’t dig but I found that fine. The chips were thick, sort of like pita chips. Sadly they are not gratis, to use the Spanish word for free which I taught myself earlier this year. To satisfy your cheap eats hunger pangs in DUMBO, Pedro’s would be a solid option.

Restaurant experiment: Rancho Alegre

Rancho Alegre

204 Garfield Place at 7th Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11215

718-369-2681

Rancho Alegre, according to the gregarious manager, has been around for 31 years. 31 years in NYC?!?! That’s like 1000 in restaurant years. Well, something must be done correctly as it is still going strong. From the second story, you can eat your food and spy on the people walking around outside, not that you would get any amazing people watching in, it is Park Slope after all. Lily and I went on Labor Day, and it wasn’t very crowded. There was a $4 special on frozen lime margaritas, not bad. In typical Tex-Mex restaurant fashion, the menu is large and features combinations of every possible menu item or it would seem. Lily pointed out that it seemed like a question from math class: how many possible combinations can you make from X items? Answer: a lot.  The menu also had a glossary for bonus points. I ordered a burrito/taco/enchilada plate. We gave the chips and salsa a thumbs up, with chips crunchy and not undersalted and Lily pouring the remaining tolerable-with-the-cilantro salsa over her food. Though the Rancho Alegre grub isn’t as satisfying as my favorite Tex-Mex joint back home, it’s a great deal with friendly service. I was happy enough. The free shots later didn’t hurt!

Restaurant experiment: Cafe Habana

Cafe Habana

17 Prince Street at Elizabeth Street

New York, NY 10012

212-625-2002

ecoeatery.com

Lime.  Chili powder.  Cheese.  On grilled corn.  Hold that thought. 

There was a similar eats joint in the previous city where I lived which had a slogan like “Too crowded, too bad.  Too loud, too bad.” and that would sum up Cafe Habana exactly.  The wait wasn’t ungodly, and I may have missed a few words of the conversation, but you gotta make sacrifices. 

The three of us squished into a corner table.  Thirst quenchers all met with approval.  Me: frozen guava margarita.  Stacy: frozen mojito.  Rachel: Michelada Corona which was interesting despite me not being an enthusiast of Corona nor hot sauce.  The frozen guava margarita may have used Goya juice, but whatever, I liked it. 

Did you hold that lime/chili powder/cheese/corn thought from earlier?  We ordered an order as an appetizer because that’s what you’re supposed to do; corn is Cafe Habana’s infamous signature dish.  These ingredients seem wack smashed together, but somehow it works.  Maybe cotija cheese is Mexican slang for crack.  I kid.  But there was something addictive about the corn despite the spiciness which usually repels me.  Get the corn. I ordered a Cuban sandwich since I knew the corn would take up real estate in my belly and I didn’t want to be pants popping full, and while that was a wise plan of action, I still lost because I left a wedge of sandwich and a few fries on the plate.  I’m so ashamed.  The sandwich was all right, but Miami does it better.  God, the Cuban food down there is amazing.  I thought Cafe Habana would serve up Cuban cookery only, but there are a lot of Mexican offerings.  Reading the fine print on the menu, this Cafe Habana was inspired by the original location in Mexico.  Huh.  It is also amusing that nearly two years ago, I tried to go here with Deborah but the line was too long so we gave up and at somewhere else that was totally eh.  Aw, we should have waited that day!